Open Ears & Open Eyes
by Lizzie83hp
Summary: Amelia Pond is a young woman working in London. She questions how interesting her life truly is when a man joins her for coffee one evening, and she realizes that all you need to do to change your life is to open your ears, eyes and heart. AU
1. Chapter 1

_We all have our own life to pursue, our own kind of dream to be weaving. And we all have some power to make wishes come true, as long as we keep believing. - Louisa May Alcott_

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><p>It was a cold, dreary morning in November when Amelia Pond rolled over in her bed and her eyes fluttered open to find the thin hairline cracks that dotted her bedroom ceiling. She stared at them, her eyes fixated, unable to find the willpower to haul herself out of bed and get ready. She hadn't drawn the curtains on her window last night and grey, depressing light streamed in, making her wish she could just stay in bed for several more hours until the sun finally came out. The flat was silent, with just the sound of her light breathing and the pattering of rain on the windows to keep her company. With a heavy sigh and a mental promise to herself that she'd go to the coffee shop after work, she kicked her sheets away from her and swung her legs over the side of her mattress.<p>

Amy lived alone on the outskirts of London in a cramped little flat next to a bookshop, handy when she wanted something new to read when she had a night off with no plans, which was often. She had originally been born in Scotland, but moved to a small English village with her mum and dad when she was a young girl. She hated it there and bided her time until several weeks after her eighteenth birthday, when she packed up her things and moved into her new flat. She hadn't counted on how expensive living on your own was, and she hadn't counted on how far she was from friends and family. She visited as often as she could, but she worked during the weekdays and was usually extremely tired by the weekend anyway.

Not even bothering to turn a light on, Amy rummaged in her dresser drawers for her outfit - a crisp blue button-down shirt and a grey skirt, just as she wore every day. She pulled out a handbag, put her purse and mobile inside, shrugged on her coat, grabbed her keys from her bedside table and headed out.

_This was her life now,_ she thought to herself as she locked her door, holding her handbag very carefully between her knees. _Just work. Work, work, work, and then the bills come in and you have nothing to show for it but a lack of sleep and a barely added-to bank account. It's all rubbish._ Amy fished her CD player out of her bag and put her headphones in, counting on her music to wake her up.

It was a short walk from her flat to the nearest Underground station, and even at 7 AM sharp, the escalators were bustling with life. It was always when she got to the Underground that she realized it was probably a good thing she lived alone, as she could be quite irritable in the morning. Thankfully there was nobody she had to force a cheery conversation with, and the next few minutes were just a blur of noise, Oyster cards and bodies rushing around her. She laid her head back and slunk down on her seat as her train finally began to move. Mondays were cruel.

It was often on lazy mornings like these where Amy went about her routine without even realizing she was doing it, and as she snapped out of her daze, she was already off her train, out of the Underground and steps away from her office. She worked as a receptionist at a small book publishing house, spending her day manning the phones and making photocopies. There really wasn't much to it, and she could spend quite a bit of time playing card games on her computer and no one was the wiser.

Mondays were always the busiest day of the week, as people had just come out of their weekend breaks and had plenty of things to take care of at work the next day. Amy answered the phones for a few hours almost nonstop, but the rush died down before noon and she whisked off quickly to the kitchen to make herself a cup of coffee.

Amy leaned against the counter in the tiny office kitchen with her mug held tightly in her hands. She thought about driving off to her old village on Friday afternoon after work to visit her parents - she hadn't done that in a while. Maybe she could even visit her friends. That would be a lovely surprise for them as well.

She got through the rest of the day on the thought of being with her friends and family at the end of the week, and after several more phone calls and a few sets of photocopies, she donned her coat and slipped out the door, a mere ghost to her coworkers as usual. It wasn't that she wasn't well liked by the people she worked with, but Amy was the receptionist, after all. Not exactly a member of staff held in the highest regard.

It was 5 PM, and by this point, there was very little room to walk with all the people crowding the pavement. Amy flowed with the crowd for a short while, but then slipped down a side alley where she finally had room to move. Her boots clunked loudly on the stone as she walked, occasionally splashing in puddles from the morning's rain. Right ahead of her was a small building that resembled a run-down pub, complete with the heavy wooden door. It was a coffee shop that actually had once been a pub, but was now run by an elderly couple. Amelia wiped her boots at the mat and let herself in, the door rattling behind her.

Amy came here everyday after work - it was her safe haven, as she often told people. It was cramped, much like a lot of the things in Amy's life, but she loved the atmosphere in the shop. Everything was made of the same aged wood as the door except for a cosy fireplace over by a window, made of grey stone. There were never many people in here either, which Amy particularly enjoyed. She endured enough crowds every day as it was.

She put her coat and handbag on a table near the fire and went to order her coffee. The only noise was of book pages being turned, fire crackling and various drink-making machinery, but even that wasn't too loud. It was very soothing (almost too soothing, she'd realized one day - she'd fallen asleep while reading and woken up at half past ten).

She took her mug and sat herself down, pulling out her mobile. She checked her texts - a new one from her sister! It was a photo of her tiny son playing with a toy car. He was an adorable little kid, she couldn't wait to visit him either. She didn't get to see him very often, and children grew up so fast that Amy felt like she'd missed out on so much. _One day, I'll have enough saved that I can move closer to them. Maybe even back to Leadworth, if I get desperate enough_, she thought.

"Erm, is this seat taken?" a nearby voice asked timidly, breaking her out of her concentration. Amy looked up and saw a young man, probably in his early twenties, standing with one hand on the back of the chair opposite her and the other clutching a coffee, smiling widely. She hadn't even seen or heard him come in, which was a bit odd. He looked nice enough, though.

"Uh, no, go ahead," she replied quickly, her eyes darting back and forth between her mobile and the stranger that was now sat in front of her. He was in the seat faster than she could even blink, wringing his hands and looking around anxiously as though he was expecting something to happen. She pocketed her phone quickly, automatically wary of him.

"Are you a criminal or something?" Amy asked with a laugh, watching the bundle of nerves in front of her. "You keep looking around like someone's coming after you."

The man smirked as he moved his fringe out of his eyes. _What sort of hair was that? It looks absolutely ridiculous_. "'Course I'm not. Never can be too careful, though. I don't really come into places like these a lot." He continued looking around.

Amy paused, taking in her tablemate. He was a rather lanky fellow, with legs that hung awkwardly over the sides of his chair. He wore a tweed jacket - people still _had_ those? She'd been sure her grandfather was the only person left on earth with a tweed jacket - with a simple shirt underneath, and… was that a bowtie? And a red one, to boot! He had plain brown trousers on as well, with beaten dark brown boots. It was an absolutely bizarre ensemble, yet somehow, this man managed to pull it off.

"What's your name, then? I'm Amelia Pond, but you can just call me Amy, if you like," she said, offering her hand across the table.

"John Smith. Pleased to meet you, Amy," he said with an air of friendliness, shaking her hand firmly. "I thought coffee was to keep you awake. It's nearly 6 o'clock, why would you be drinking it now?"

She had to laugh. "Well, I have to take the Underground to get to and from work, yeah? But its way too crowded when I get out, so I come here and wait around so I can get a bit of peace before I head back to my flat," she answered. "I'm drinking it because it's good and because I don't really have much else to do. Not to mention that I can stay up later. All the good movies are on telly after midnight. Why are _you_ drinking coffee now?"

"Same reason as you, really. I'm bored."

"Ah."

They sat in an uncomfortable silence for several beats before Amy realized what she'd done - here was this man that had literally shown up out of nowhere, and she'd just explained her everyday life to him. Why did she trust him so quickly? Trying to break the awkward peace, Amy cleared her throat at looked up at him again.

"Where are you from, exactly? I know that London's big and everything, but I've never even seen you in here before. "

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you," said John, taking a large sip of his drink. _What was that supposed to mean?_

Amy crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow. "Try me."

"Alright," he said, voice lowering slightly. He scooted his chair closer to the table so they wouldn't be as easily overheard. "I'm not from Earth." He backed away slightly, looking impressed with himself.

Amy had been drinking her coffee and nearly choked on it at those words. "You're an alien?" she said back, coughing out a laugh.

"Yeah."

"But you look like everyone else. Well, bar the jacket and bowtie. People still wear tweed?"

"Yeah they do. And it's cool, bowties are cool," John told her, as though that was obvious. He grabbed at his bowtie, trying to adjust it. "But no, I don't look like everyone else, you all look like me. We came first."

Amy scrunched up her face in disbelief and stared at him. He noticed and tried to reassure her. "I'm not joking, honest!"

_Brilliant, the first guy I meet in a while and he's totally off his rocker._ "Uh, yeah, well, I think I'll just face the crowds, thanks very much. I'll see you around," Amy said scathingly, balancing everything in her arms at once in her hurry to get away.

John reached out to grab her arm and began stuttering, trying to find something to say that wasn't complete blabber to her. "Amy, Amy, wait! Look, you don't have to really believe anything I'm telling you, but it'd be nice to just talk, wouldn't it? I haven't really _talked_ to anyone in ages and you can just take it all in as a long story from a blithering idiot, if you like. Please."

Amy hesitated, looking down at him in his chair. _He's got a point. It's the same old rubbish on telly tonight anyway. And even if he has got a screw loose, he can't do anything to in a room with other people in it._

"Alright, fine. But you watch it, mister, okay? I've got a mobile and if you try anything funny I'm calling for help."

"You think I'd attack you?"

"You're mental, of course you'd attack me!" she screeched, a little louder than she'd wanted to. She clapped a hand over her mouth and looked around, but nobody seemed to be looking in the direction of their table.

"Alright. I've got a lot of things to say. What do you want to hear about?" he asked her. _So it's not rehearsed? He's making this up as he goes. Sharp._

Amy sighed and put her coat and handbag over the back of her chair as she sat down again. "Well, if you really are an alien, then where's your spaceship? I don't remember seeing any flying saucers on the way in."

"Har har, aren't you a joker. That's rubbish anyway, flying saucers went out of style ages ago, everyone knows that. Mine changes," he said proudly, grinning at her.

"Your spaceship changes? Oh yes, that sounds like a legitimate answer."

"No, it does! There's a circuit in it that changes its appearance, so it blends in with its surroundings. The chameleon circuit… which really does need fixing, now that I think about it. The old girl's looked the same for a while now."

"And what does it look like?"

"A blue police telephone box from 1963. She's got a perception filter though, so even though there really aren't police boxes around anymore, most people don't notice it's there unless they're really looking for it. But some people still manage to find her. I get the occasional old lady that tries to get in. They're a bit hard to shoo away."

"You keep calling it a 'her', like its got feelings. It's a spaceship, John, get real. Has _she_ got a name?" Amy asked teasingly.

"'Course she has. 'Time and Relative Dimensions in Space'. TARDIS for short, cause I don't want to run around sounding like an idiot. Don't tell her I said that," he added as an afterthought.

Amy snorted. "Oh yeah, you can't sound stupid when telling people what you call your spaceship. Not at all. And what was that bit about time in there? Don't tell me it's a time machine too! This just gets better and better."

"It is! Anywhere in time and space, so the entire universe at any point in time is my backyard."

"If you've got all of time and space at your fingertips, why are you here on Earth?"

John closed his eyes and shook his head, as though that was a stupid thing to ask. "I've got to let her rest. It'd be absolutely cruel to just expect her to keep going all the time, so I let her do her own thing and become a tourist for a few days. It's fun though, I rather like this planet."

"You're just completely lying, aren't you? That's how you get your kicks, showing off and telling people all these stories, but you're just winding them up," she said matter-of-factly, as her Scottish accent became suddenly thicker.

"Amelia Pond. Do you really think I'd do that to you?" he asked her, suddenly serious. Amy realized he'd used her full name. Maybe he only did that when he wanted someone to really listen - it was strangely endearing.

"Well, how can I know for sure? You've been telling me all these stories of other worlds and outer space, for god's sakes, its ridiculous! And I've only just met you, it's not like I'm an old friend or anything," Amy whispered sternly, lowering her voice so that she didn't disturb anyone else in the coffee shop.

"Yes, but… if you really believed what I was telling you was all that ridiculous, why are you still here with me?" He questioned, that mischievous little half-smile returning to his face. "You could have just kept on going when you wanted to earlier. You wanted to listen."

He certainly had her there.

"Why me?" she asked sharply. "There are loads of other people on Earth. Why would you pick me to tell all of this to?"

"Because, Amy. I'm lonely, and so are you. You came in here alone, you sat there alone. You looked at your mobile like you were waiting for someone to call you or text you. And you haven't got a ring on your finger," he said, pointing to her hand, "so you're probably unattached. And you said it yourself, you have nothing better to do when you get home. I'm right, aren't I?"

"W-will you be here again tomorrow? Y'know, after I get off work?" she asked, ignoring his question and hoping that she didn't sound too desperate. After all, she'd only just met him, and yet he was the single most interesting person she'd come across in a long time.

"Yep. I've got to let my ship rest up, don't I?"

Amy snorted loudly in derision. "I don't know, do you?" she asked, giving him a disbelieving look.

John then slid off of the chair and grabbed the back of it as he had done several hours before. Drumming his fingers on the wood, he looked at her as though trying to read her thoughts. A small laugh escaped his mouth and he looked around before he hunched over and muttered, "You still don't believe me."

Amy fixed her glare at him and folded her arms against her chest, pursing her lips. "Nope."

"I'll soon fix that," he said simply.

If there was one thing Amy would not do, it was let anyone else have the last word in an argument. She opened her mouth to protest, but John was already at the front door of the shop, smiling at her.

"And what exactly was _that_ supposed to mean?" she called out to him.

"You'll see," he replied, opening the large, creaking door a crack. "Until tomorrow, Pond."

And with that, he was gone, the door shutting behind him. John Smith had left just as mysteriously as he had arrived. Amy tapped her fingers against the table as she still watched the doorframe, half-expecting him to walk back in and keep feeding her those stories. Five minutes passed and he had clearly left, so she gathered her things and headed out, waving to the couple behind the counter as she went.

Amy walked slower as she closed the door behind her, in no real rush. So many thoughts were swarming around her head at once that she hardly even noticed just how much time had really passed.

_John Smith. That's a really basic name for an interesting bloke… it's got to be fake. Probably so I couldn't look him up on the internet or something. And a spaceship. Oh yeah, that's bloody likely. You see a lot of those in London._

She was so caught up in her own ideas that it didn't even register to Amy when she passed by a blue police box sitting near the end of the alley.

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><p><strong>AN: Hello there! Hope you all enjoyed this chapter. I'm rather proud of it, as it's taken me about two and a half days to fine-tune. I'm currently planning on doing five chapters in total, so stay tuned. :)**


	2. Chapter 2

Amy had been right to think that John had given her a fake name - there had been a smidgen of doubt in her head that had her wondering if maybe he just had an unfortunate name - no matter how much searching she did, she couldn't find him listed anywhere online.

She felt very funny the next morning, almost _giddy_. John had brought up a fair point - if she really thought the things he had told her were simply stories, why had she listened? The answer was really very simple - although she would never admit it to him, Amy really was very lonely, as John had guessed. Though, when nearly all of your friends and family live far from you, that's to be expected. She dreamed of far bigger things.

Amy wasn't sure if something in the world around her had changed overnight, or if John's words had just properly opened her eyes, but she found herself examining nearly everyone she came into contact with. People didn't come across as ordinary to her anymore - on her train that morning in fact, Amy watched everyone around her. Most people _did_ seem human, she was sure of that much, but some seemed a bit… off. One man, who was sat with nobody around him, seemed a tad twitchy and out of place. He had a notepad with him and he wrote hurriedly in something that looked like a cross between a language and a secret code. _Probably why his seatmates all relocated,_ Amy thought to herself. _Bit of a shifty bloke._

It was Tuesday, which meant that at work, Amy had far less to do than she did the day before. She did have her fair share of voicemails to respond to and calls to take, however. What felt the oddest to Amy was not, in fact, her decrease in work that day, but that for the first time in what felt like ages, she went through her work in a good mood.

A few hours before she was set to leave for the coffee shop, a thick, rather dull-looking manuscript made its way to Amy's desk, along with a note from the author's agent saying that it was meant to be delivered to the head editor, Mr. O'Brien. Amy tapped her brightly painted nails on the desk before flipping through the pages. _Yep, definitely not worth borrowing for a few hours_.

Amy tapped her finger on the intercom machine on her desk, hitting the call button. "Mr. O'Brien? Thompson's manuscript just arrived. Shall I bring it up to you?"

There was no response but the faint crackling of the intercom. That was odd. Amy knew he was in; she'd waved at him after he grunted a 'hello' at her. She decided she'd wait for a few more minutes before calling him again. Perhaps he's rushed off to speak to someone or to use the loo, or something. But didn't he usually tell her, so that she'd be able to stop people from going up to his empty office in the meantime?

After playing half of a round of a card game on her computer, Amy pressed the button on the intercom again. "Mr. O'Brien?"

Still nothing.

Amy was just about to take the manuscript up with her to check that he was alright when her co-worked Daisy walked past reception, heels clicking as she went.

"Oi, Daisy! C'mere for a sec!"

Daisy turned around and she grinned at her friend, changing course to head to Amy's desk.

"Hey Amy. What's up?"

"Um, have you seen O'Brien around? The Thompson manuscript that he's been going on about for ages just got here, but he's not answering the intercom."

Daisy raised an eyebrow. "Can't say that I have, no. He's been in sort of a weird mood lately. He gave the carpet cleaners hell the other day for not knocking before going into his office," she said with a laugh. The smile that crossed her face faded just as quickly as it had appeared as she added, "I've heard from some other people around here that he's having trouble with the missus."

There was a pause as Amy weighed her options. "So I probably shouldn't go upstairs, then?"

"Nah, not if you value your life. Y'know, I've got a huge stack of paperwork so I'm probably going to have to stay late. If he doesn't answer before five o'clock, just leave it there, alright? I'll put it in his office after he leaves."

"Are you sure? I don't want you doing that if he's going mental up there," Amy protested with a slight smirk.

"Oh come on, sneaking around is far more fun. And by the way," Daisy whispered, looking around before leaning slightly over the desk, "what's his name?"

"S-sorry?"

"Come on, Amy. You spend nearly all your time here sulking around the place, and suddenly you're up for conversations? Willingly? Please. You _do_ know his name, don't you?"

"Of course I bloody well kn- no, no, no! There's nobody," Amy half-shrieked. Her expression hardened and she pursed her lips, glaring up at Daisy. "Drop it."

Daisy just smiled cheekily back with a look of smug satisfaction. "No, I don't think I will," she said simply. She then turned on her heel and left, leaving Amy still glaring in her wake.

Despite using the intercom several more times, Mr. O'Brien didn't seem like he was going to be answering any time soon, so his manuscript went to the back of her mind, replaced by, as usual, more phone calls. She sometimes found it curious that her voice didn't go croaky or that she didn't lose it altogether by the end of the day. Amy supposed that maybe it was the constant use that actually helped her - she'd 'broken it in', so to speak. Five o'clock soon rolled around, so before gathering her things, Amy tried to call Mr. O'Brien one last time.

She heard the faint buzzing again. "Mr. O'Brien? Look, the Thompson manuscript is here. Hello?" There was no response.

_Alright then, Daisy can take the bloody thing up there. Not my problem anymore._

She went for her coat and her handbag and rushed out the front door before Daisy could come around to tell her she'd changed her mind, or anything of the sort. Amy melted into a sudden swarm of people once on the pavement, but it didn't even irritate her as it usually would.

It seemed a bit sunnier than it would normally have been on a late November afternoon as Amy made her way to the coffee shop. There were no residual puddles left on the pavement beneath her boots, however there was still a damp, rainy feel to the air around her. That much was typical.

Amy slipped down the familiar alleyway to the coffee shop but stopped dead in her tracks when she was but a few steps in. Positioned there as though it was still commonplace was a large blue police telephone box. Amy had an odd feeling that though the box clearly hadn't been there before, it was almost as though it belonged there, just as the shop windows and rubbish bins belonged there. She felt herself drawn to it, hardly daring to believe that John would go to such lengths to convince her about the truthfulness of his words. And yet, here was the proof, staring her in the face.

Amy tugged swiftly on the door handle of the police box, but it simply would not budge. She placed a hand on the doorframe of it, examining it closely. Amy wasn't sure herself of just what she was hoping to find, but nothing seemed amiss. Shaking her head, she turned away from it and continued on her path to the inviting little building at the end of the alley, hoping to get some real answers about what she wanted to know today. She was beginning to feel angry about this whole thing - props? _Really?_ This was too much.

Before entering, Amy wiped her boots, exhaled sharply, and then quickly opened the door. Her eyes scanned the room until she found the angular face she'd been looking for. He was sat at the same table that the two of them had shared the evening before, twiddling his thumbs and looking at her expectantly. Was he waiting for her to go ballistic on him, or was he waiting for an emotional apology for her doubt?

_Well, he's certainly not getting the latter._

"Oi, John!" Amy called out, rushing over to the table and slamming her handbag down on it to show she meant business. "Are you absolutely insane or what?"

The very small hint of a smile on John's lips vanished, replaced instead with the same seriousness he had conjured up out of nowhere before departing on Monday.

"That's the most interesting greeting I've had in ages, Pond! Mind you, I _have_ had much worse," he said thoughtfully, scrunching up his face as if trying to remember something incredibly important.

"Shut up, I just want to know where you got it from! Thought you'd plant it there and see if you could wind me up a bit more, eh?"

"What are you on about? D'you mean the TARDIS?"

"Yes, I mean your TARDIS! There's a police box just out there," Amy hissed, gesturing at the door with her thumb. "Did you get some bloke to come by and leave it there overnight?"

John made a face of half amusement, half disgust. "Amy, _breathe_. None of what you're saying makes sense, do you realise that? How could anyone have picked up a police box and put it there? Besides, it was there yesterday!"

Amy was just about to respond when she felt her mindset do a complete turnaround. Would it really be _that_ impossible for her to simply believe him, or at least pretend to just to humour him? If he could keep on with the charades, so could she. Two could play at that game.

"Amelia? Amelia, are you alright?"

John's voice had brought her back down to reality. Amy blinked several times, trying to completely break herself out of her reverie before she answered him.

"Oh! Erm, yeah, I'm fine. Listen, just wait here, I need to get my coffee first, alright?"

John gestured his hands outwards. "I've got plenty of time, go right ahead," he said with a smile.

Amy smiled back at him as she grabbed her handbag and unzipped it, rifling through it for her purse with one hand. Chewing gum, nail file, lip balm, purse…

"Damn it."

"Did you leave your money back at your flat? That's fine, I've got -"

"No, no, I've got money, that's not the problem," Amy said in a hurried voice, checking again to make sure she was right. "It's my mobile, it's not in here. It must be back at my desk at work, I would never have left it at home."

"You left it at _work_, though," John pointed out.

Amy glared. "Ha ha, aren't you funny. Look, I'm going back to get it, alright? I'll see you tomorr-"

"I'll come with you!" John said brightly, jumping up from his chair before Amy had even given him the go-ahead.

She grinned mischievously at him, zipping her handbag shut. "Ooh, look at that, a mysterious young man offering to walk a young lady to her office. Very romantic. You're quite the proper gentleman, aren't you?"

John rolled his eyes at her words before looking back at her and saying in an exasperated tone, "Shut up, it's not like that!"

Amy just continued with her happy demeanour and went to the front door, John following behind her. They shut the door after themselves and a sharp blast of cold air hit them, making Amy shudder and plunge her hands into her coat pockets for warmth.

John made a sudden humming noise and turned to face Amy as they walked down the alley. "Why the sudden change in attitude, Pond? I thought for sure I was going to have to duck under the table," he asked her incredulously.

"Uh, well… I guess I've just been bottling things up for too long. It was all bound to come out at some point… sorry it had to be directed at you," said Amy, laughing shakily.

"You're lying," John blurted out. He didn't even have to think about it.

"Well, of course I am. I _will_ tell you why, though. Just not right now. When we get back."

John clearly hadn't been satisfied with her answer before, but smiled warmly at her then and she knew that _that_ had been a better way of putting it. Amy wondered to herself if maybe he could even explain this to her better than she could.

They got to the end of the alleyway where the familiar blue police box was sat, and Amy scurried quickly towards it and stood in front of its doors as she turned to face him. She tapped it with one hand, the other on her hip as she awaited some sort of explanation.

"It really was there yesterday. Now, come along, Pond."

They then made their way out of the alley and down the street. The sun was beginning to set around them, casting grey shadows over the buildings on the street. A silence filled the air between them, both unable to say the things that needed to be said.

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><p><strong>AN: Hey everyone! Thanks very much to all of you that have been favouriting, adding to alert lists and reviewing this story, it means a lot to me! I worked a bit harder on this chapter, as I'm trying to improve my writing. Hopefully it shows somewhat. xD**

**Two more things:  
>1) The Daisy character in this story is not, and I repeat, NOT in any way supposed to be Daisy Lowe. The name was a bit of a coincidence, actually. I picture her to be a lot like Freema Agyeman, in both appearance and behaviour.<br>2) To those of you who are in London and surrounding areas right now, I hope you're all safe and not directly in harm's way during these riots. I've been following what's going on through the nightly news, Twitter and Tumblr, and it just seems awful. I hope they stop as soon as possible. x  
><strong>


	3. Chapter 3

John and Amy's walk back to the publishing house was a short and quiet one. They continually cast sidelong glances at one another, each looking hurriedly away when caught by the other. Amy was incredibly thankful when they reached the front steps of her office - the sooner the two of them could get back to the coffee shop, the better. Though John was a mysterious fellow and she had many questions to ask him, Amy still felt somewhat uncomfortable around him - she had, after all, only met him yesterday.

She spun on her heels to face John, who was eyeing the building with a curious look on his face. "Alright, this is it. I'll only be a second and then we can go back, alright?"

His reply was a hum in agreement and a nod of his head. "Alright, but I'm holding you to your word. I want that coffee."

Amy simply laughed and turned back to the building, scurrying up the steps to get indoors.

The sounds from the street were sharply cut off when the large main glass doors of the office closed, leaving her and John in an uncomfortable silence once more. Amy shrugged off her coat and dumped it on a bench beside the door, gesturing for John to follow her to the front desk. She spotted her mobile immediately on a stack of paperwork she was meant to do tomorrow morning, along with…

"The manuscript!"

"Sorry, what?"

"Oh. Um, it's just this manuscript that I was supposed to give to the head editor. My mate Daisy said she'd do it after I left, and look, she's forgotten!"

"D'you want to take it to him, then? It looks rather important," John uttered idly, flicking through the pages with a bored expression. "And boring! Look at this thing; nearly a thousand pages long and there's not even a single picture! Pond, are all the books you lot put out this awful? "

"Nah, mostly just that one," Amy said with a grin, shoving her mobile into her pocket. "Come on, let's head upstairs. I don't feel like getting sacked tomorrow. And wait, what was that about picture books?"

"For your information, they're very fun."

The large, rather daunting staircase was steps away from Amy's desk and she climbed them with ease - it was all routine anyway. John continued to trail behind her, peering around inquisitively at everything as though he was a small child in a toy shop. Amy looked over her shoulder every now and then as they climbed up the steps, to make sure he was still with her. His eyes seemed to sparkle, and almost mischievously so - there was so much to explore, so many questions to ask. He kept himself quiet and nothing was said between the pair until they were several floors up, when John blurted out, "What's the head editor's name, again? I don't remember."

"That's probably because I didn't say it before. It's Jack O'Brien. Why?"

Amy had stopped looking over her shoulder while speaking to him so she could climb the steepest part of the staircase, and didn't notice John stop dead in his tracks and bug his eyes out at her. She had reached the solid ground of the sixth floor before realising she couldn't hear John's footsteps, and found him halfway down the staircase, still staring at her.

"What?"

"Jack O'Brien? Big, heavy bloke, sort of grumpy?"

Amy just blinked in response to his question. "Uh, yeah, that'd be him. Why? Do you two know each other or something?" She then gave a rather loud laugh. "Oh wait, don't tell me - he's an _alien_!"

She held her hands against her cheeks and waggled her fingers, giving John a cheeky grin. "Woo! Very frightening. He's an alien, then?" _He's making this quite fun. There's really not even a need to fake an interest._

John began moving again and was quickly face to face with Amy, his facial expression barely moving. Amy giggled again as he closed in, staring her directly in the eye. "Yes, he is," he said simply. Amy felt her whole body freeze at his sudden closeness, and she hardly even dared to breathe. He backed away from her and continued down the hall with his hands behind his back, seemingly unaware of the effect the lack of personal space had had. She breathed out and shook her head. He was a mystery. _And a complete nutter._

"Oh my god, this is too much! I'm asking him about it when we get up there, I really am. You know, you're brilliantly creative John, I'll give you that much," Amy called out before running to catch up with him. "You should do up a book. Ooh wait, do up a picture book!"

John's face remained expressionless and he did not answer her two of them walked down a sleek hallway, the walls and doorways all painted a sleek white. The only colour that could be seen was in the long Persian rug that covered most of the hallway, covered in warm reds and browns. The rug was a sharp contrast against the almost harsh blankness that seemed to be the colour scheme for the whole building. It seemed to be a rather austere place to work, and John thought to himself that it was rather peculiar for an outgoing, bold person like Amelia Pond to be every day.

"Amy, why do you work here?" he asked bluntly as they walked side-by-side.

"Erm, well, I've got to work someplace," Amy remarked. "I really love books - I live next to this little bookshop, actually. When I moved to London, I needed to get a job, so I applied for the receptionist's job. I had to do business classes and things like that back at school, so it was an easy choice. Plus, I get first look at some of the books that come in, but don't tell anyone," she said, putting a finger to her lips with a sly look on her face.

"Hey, Amy!"

John and Amy turned to find a woman running down the hallway to reach them - Daisy.

"Where've you been? We came back to get my mobile and the manuscript was still at my desk. Isn't he letting you in?" Amy demanded.

Daisy appeared slightly flustered from her rushing, but by the look on her face, she was also quite frustrated. Amy imagined that she had that same look on her face nearly every day after work, what with having to deal with some truly stubborn people every day.

"No, he isn't! I went to his door and I'd have thought all of London could hear from the way he was yelling. I don't know what we're going to do with the thing if he's not going to edit it," Daisy rambled. She then turned her eyes from Amy to John, raising an eyebrow. "And who're you?"

"John Smith. I'm a friend of Amy's. You're Daisy, of course. Is that O'Brien's door at the end of the hall?" John asked quickly, not bothering to wait for her reply.

Daisy nodded without losing eye contact, and she and Amy watched as he strutted importantly down the hall, heading straight for the large frosted glass doors at the end. Daisy stood a little closer to Amy and muttered, "Is that _him_? The guy you wouldn't tell me about? He's cute, you've got good taste."

Amy pouted her lips and her bewildered expression hardened into a glare. "Shut up, it's not like that. I met him yesterday at that coffee shop we went to a few months ago, remember it? He asked to sit with me, and he started telling me about how - oh my god, he's going in!"

Amy's explanation was cut short when she realised that John had gone through the doors and into O'Brien's office, a feat that neither Amy nor Daisy had ever been brave enough to attempt. Daisy looked just as shocked as Amy did - her jaw had dropped and she had frozen her pose.

"He's a bloody idiot."

"Shh, quiet down, I'm going over to listen. Stay here, okay?"

"Amy, are you mad?"

She ignored the protests of her friend and tiptoed down the corridor, carefully making sure her boots made as little noise as possible against the aging wood. Amy ducked cautiously down to her knees and pressed her ear to the door in time to hear a muffled voice say, "Alright, alright, I understand!" _That sounded like John - so he really does know O'Brien, then! I thought he was just winding me up… as usual._

In the silence, Amy heard the faint rustling of Daisy's clothes as she knelt next to her. "Can you even hear anything in there?" she murmured, hardly even audible.

Amy shook her head and moved her head away. "Not really. It's mostly all muffled. Like, I can hear mumbling, and that's it."

The quiet reverie of the two women was broken by a loud shattering coming from behind the door. Daisy momentarily forgot to keep completely silent and screamed aloud, forcing Amy to clamp a manicured hand over her mouth.

"They can hear you!" Amy hissed, slowly removing her hand.

"I know they can hear me! What was that? It sounded like something large breaking… wait, was that his fish tank that smashed?"

Before she could give an answer, two small thuds, one immediately following the other, sounded above their heads. Daisy got up off of her knees and backed up slowly, eyes narrowed on O'Brien's office door.

"Look, Amy," she stammered. "I'm getting out of here. There are two madmen in there, and one of them is throwing things - maybe even both of them! We need to get out of here!"

Amy felt a rush of something swell in her heart - was that _bravery_? She felt it grow inside her, a bubbling of pride. She wouldn't dare flee. "I can't leave John! I _won't_ leave John. Just get out of here, okay? Don't wait up for us, we'll be fine."

Another thud.

"Amy, look at what you're doing. You met this guy yesterday, and he's going to get you killed. Just look at yourself! Come on, come with me, we can get out in time!"

"Go!" Amy said sternly. She felt the beginnings of what felt like anger bubbling up inside her as well. She definitely would not have anything happen to Daisy.

Daisy hardly needed to be told twice - she traipsed swiftly down the hallway, only daring to look back over her shoulder at Amy once before disappearing around a corner and going out of sight.

A loud bang shook the glass doors and an eruption of shouts came from inside the office - they were definitely growing louder. Amy pressed her ear to the wall again, desperate to hear the conversation within, but she yelped and moved her head from the wall when something heavy slammed roughly directly where her ear was. She felt herself begin to panic - what _was_ going on in there? Was John alright?

The yelling raised another octave before the door blasted open. John stumbled out, a look of terror on his face and whirled to find Amy, who was lying on the floor to avoid being hit. A thundering roar came from the office that John had been thrown from, and the rumbling voice shouted "Doctor!" repeatedly. Amy peered up at John, terrified, and he pitched his arms forward to haul her up. The cries came from the room again and as though this was an incentive, John grabbed her hand, and told her simply, but loudly, "Run!"

Amy felt herself being lurched forward and made a conscious effort to keep herself upright as John pulled her down the hall. She found her balance and ran with him, her hair whipping around her face as she turned to look over her shoulder - thundering after them was none other than the large form of O'Brien, but he was… _green_?

"Who the hell is _that_? John? What's going on? Tell me!" Amy shrieked at him. "He's calling for a doctor! What did you do?"

They raced for several more seconds, tearing around corners as Amy tugged the head of her skirt down. John directed the two of them towards the staircase and Amy's long legs nearly slid out from under her at the sheer speed he moved - how was he not out of breath yet? The building had so many twisting corridors and sharp corners, it was a miracle they hadn't run straight into a wall.

Fifth floor. Fourth floor. Amy had not previously been aware that she could move at such a speed. She felt the familiar sensation of her stomach dropping that comes with a steep fall, and she found herself airborne after John jumped over several steps in a rush to get out, still holding tightly onto her hand.

They ran down the staircase at such a breakneck speed, it was a wonder Amy didn't trip over her own feet and tumble headfirst down the steps. The pounding of O'Brien's footsteps still followed behind them, and Amy couldn't tell if it was her imagination, or if he was beginning to gain on them. They had finally gotten to the third floor, and before John could drag her down another flight of stairs, she tugged roughly on his arm.

"Over here! No, this way! If we take the lift, then we can head him off and get out quicker!" Amy called out.

She heaved on John's arm to change his direction, and he spun around before following her lead. She let go of his hand and rushed to the doors, pressing the 'call' button repeatedly.

"It's all the way at the top floor! Oh god, what do we do? He's getting closer, we can't go back now! I'm so sor-"

"No apologies today, Pond! We're taking the lift, whether it's at our floor or not."

John reached over, and with one large heave, forced the doors of the lift open, leaning on one door and holding a large booted foot against the other. He shoved one hand into his jacket and fished out what looked like a long, metallic children's pen. John twirled it absentmindedly before it flicked open and made a shrill, grating noise. He grabbed the strange object and covered the end of it, cutting the noise off, and then pocketed it once again.

"What is that thing?" Amy questioned loudly, removing her hands from her ears.

"It's my sonic screwdriver. It sonics things. My god, Pond, you're full of questions today!" John said matter-of-factly, pocketing the screwdriver. "Alright, this should hold, but we don't have much time. You're going to have to jump."

"We are three floors up, I'm not jumping down a lift shaft and killing myself, thank you very much!"

"No, no, grab the cables and shimmy until you can jump out. Amelia, if we don't go now, we'll either be killed by a rather cross O'Brien, or the elevator will come and knock us down to the basement if we take too long," John said hurriedly. _He really must know what he's doing_, Amy thought immediately._ He wouldn't kill someone he's only just met… would he?_

"I can't do it," Amy choked out. The mere thought that John could have led the both of them into a trap they could not escape from paralysed her with fear. What if Daisy had had a point? She hardly even knew him and here they both were at the end of the line, mere seconds away from death.

"Amelia Pond, you need to do this. Trust me. I'm the Doctor."

She swallowed and closed her eyes.

"Please."

Her feet moved before her mind could.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Hello everyone! Thank you for all the kind reviews, they mean the world to me, even if I do seem a bit unappreciative when I reply to them. I'm just really not used to so many compliments! xD**

**On another note, I had to go to the dentist this afternoon to get a filling, and when I came home I couldn't eat anything for a while, so I had to fill my time with something else - this fic! I polished most of this off this afternoon from memory, as my computer shut itself off yesterday evening and I lost a good bit of everything I'd written. But I digress - after finishing this off, I decided to sit and plan out exactly what I planned for this fic, and I realised that I've got quite a bit left to do, so there's definitely going to be more than five chapters now! Probably less than ten, though. :)**


	4. Chapter 4

Amy had closed her eyes to combat the growing fear inside of her, and opened them to instead find searing pain shooting through her hands and up into her arms. John said nothing as the two of them plummeted into darkness, likely mistaking her screams as ones of terror.

The cables in the shaft were thick and durable, cutting roughly into Amy's hand as she slid towards her freedom. She got closer and closer to a strip of solid ground and she threw herself towards it before she could hit the bottom of the shaft, not caring about the lack of dignity when jumping in a short skirt. She tumbled to the ground in a heap, whimpering in pain when she heard John land close beside her. She rolled over, her bright red hair fanning out in waves around her head and she darted her eyes around desperately to find him.

"John, John, oh _god_ -"

"Amy."

"Help, p-please! Please -"

"Amy!"

"You called yourself a doctor, please help!"

"Amelia! Listen!" John shouted, coming close to her and placing his hands on either side of her face. He was just as close as he had come before on the staircase, apparently ignorant of the effect of that on people. His eyes bored into hers and her fear simply melted away. Those eyes were so comforting, so trustworthy, that Amy felt it hard to even break her returning stare and look away.

"Amelia Pond, you're fine," he said, removing his careful hands from Amy's face and moving to rub her back. John took her hands in his own to examine them, turning his head to the side to get a better look. "Breathe. You're going to be fine. I promise. I can't do anything if you're in hysterics!"

Amy's eyes hardened and narrowed into a glare. "You know, if I could use my hands, I'd hit you. It's your fault I'm like this! I don't throw myself down lift shafts every time I go to work!"

"Oh, I know. Can't go back in time and fix it, can I? Well, I suppose I could. But there really wouldn't be any point. I'm having fun," John said with a small grin.

"Glad this is amusing you." Amy breathed in and out sharply, ignoring the feeling in her hands and trying to instead focus herself on something else. "Um, w-why didn't you tell me before that you were a doctor? That's a good icebreaker, you should have used it!"

"Well, that's because _technically_, I'm not _a_ Doctor. That's my name. _The_ Doctor. Still a great name though."

"…your name is the Doctor? Just the Doctor? That's sort of rubbish," Amy scoffed.

"Yep. I'm the Doctor. Well, they call me the Doctor. I don't know why. I call me the Doctor, too. I still don't know why."

Amy just stared at him and despite her best efforts, could not disguise the laugh that escaped from her mouth. "So, you're not really even a Doctor, then? Not a proper one, at least."

"Uh, not really, no. Never did pass the exams. I could have if I wanted to, mind. I was just busy that day, the Doctor answered her. "Alright Amy Pond, your hand is in bad shape right now, but it'll be good as new once we bandage it up a bit."

The Doctor hoisted himself up and reached over to help balance Amy, who was attempting to stand up without using her hands at all. She looked confusedly at them before asking, "Are you sure I don't have to get these, you, stitched up or anything? They're cut really badly, and they hurt like a -"

"Oh, no, you're fine with just some bandages. I think. I'm… pretty sure, anyway," the Doctor stuttered, his eyes darting guiltily around. "Hopefully. I've got some stuff in my TARDIS, so I'll just nip in there on the way back to the coffee shop. If you still want to go back there, that is. I'd imagine you're a bit tired from the running."

The Doctor led Amy down a dark, damp corridor, dimly lit by only a handful of lights secured to the ceiling. Amy surmised that they must have fallen straight to the basement; the one place in the building she'd never been. Of course, she had no idea how to get out to daylight, and couldn't imagine how the Doctor possibly could.

"D'you know where you're going?"

"Nah. But that's the fun, isn't it?" he replied, a look of boyish glee on his face.

Amy smiled back at him, astonished at his change in mood. "Uh, Doctor, why the sudden change in personality? You were far more reserved yesterday."

"Reserved is boring. I just had to tone it down a little bit yesterday so you wouldn't call a psychiatrist on me," he said simply. The Doctor then quickly turned a corner and Amy nearly tripped over her feet in surprise. He turned back to reach for her arm and he pulled her along with him, a new spring in his step. "Come along, Pond!"

The two of them passed down an even more narrow passage, the floor beginning to slope slightly upwards. Amy was now able to ignore the dull stinging in her hands and was bounding curiously behind him, eyes darting to look at his face every minute or so. The Doctor made a sharp stop and Amy smacked into him and stumbled back, careful not to topple over.

"Oi, watch it, idiot!"

Amy balanced herself by leaning against the wall, and glared accusingly at him. He did not reply to her, but instead licked a finger and raised it to the air above him with an expression of deep concentration. "Ah. The air pressure is different now. I think we're almost out."

The Doctor was correct; not a minute later, they were pushing through a pair of heavy doors in the main hallway. Amy blinked furiously to adjust her eyes to the normal light and gingerly brushed her hair out of her face with two careful fingers. She hurried ahead of him and went over to the couch she'd dumped her coat and handbag on when they had entered and shrugged them on, still uneasy with using her hands properly.

Amy turned to head out into the street with the Doctor, when he suddenly froze on the spot and grabbed her shoulders, eyes bugged out in fear.

"Wait, wait! Your friend Daisy!"

Amy spun around, half expecting her to be waiting for them somewhere in the front hallway (she was somewhat surprised that she _wasn't_), but just saw the Doctor standing here, bandy-legged and terrified.

"Didn't I say? I told her to get out of here before _you_," she said, poking him in the chest with a finger, "got on O'Brien's bad side and nearly killed us. I'm not an idiot, I wasn't going to let her stay here."

The Doctor beamed down at her, his messy flop of a fringe obscuring a portion of his face. "Ah! Brilliant thinking, Pond." He clapped a hand on her back and then jammed it into the pocket of his trousers. "Let's go! I still want that coffee."

"Hate to change the subject, Doctor, but why isn't O'Brien here right now? He just sort of… stopped chasing us."

"He's probably embarrassed. I don't think he'll be giving anyone trouble for a while."

"Er… sorry, what?"

The Doctor simply continued scampering down the front steps until he jumped the last step, almost child-like, and waited for her with a smirk still on his face.

"He's embarrassed! Probably should have said before, shouldn't I? He's an alien, as you could probably tell. He's a Dragonian. Not _Draconian_, mind. They're completely different, but people confuse the two a lot. I think that's where you lot got the idea of dragons from. Or maybe that's the Draconians."

Amy stared at him with her mouth hanging slightly open, absolutely dumbfounded. She felt as though her eyes had grown to the size of saucers, but she hardly even cared; it was absolutely fascinating hearing the Doctor talk like this. He didn't seem to notice the look on her face, but continued walking with his hands in his pockets. This conversation of aliens seem to bring a new spark to the Doctor's eyes, a bit of light that hadn't previously been there. He cleared his throat and continued on.

"Anyway, from what I gathered, he's just living here in peace, no funny business. That O'Brien fellow came here with his family just for the sake of living. Dragonians aren't used to the way the human race functions, you see. It interferes quite a bit with how they do things. Dragonia is a lot like earth, but during their winter months, nearly everyone goes into hibernation. Humans don't do that, so O'Brien can't exactly disappear for weeks at a time. That's why he's acting like that! He's quite tired. Understandable."

Anyone walking past the two of them as the Doctor had been explaining this to her must have thought him to be mad. It was beyond anything Amy was used to, but as mad as the whole concept was, it all fit together perfectly. That is, except for one thing, which was stuck prominently in Amy's mind.

"Why did he _look_ human, though? I mean, you told me you were an alien, yeah? But you look human. Wait, we look like you, that's what you said. What _are_ you, anyway?" Amy asked him quickly. The words seemed to pour from her mouth, as though she could not get them out fast enough.

"I'm a Time Lord. From a planet called Gallifrey," the Doctor said in a clipped tone. Amy sensed that this might have been a bit of a delicate subject for him, although she had no idea why. She looked up at his face slowly as they continued down the pavement, and the Doctor continued to stare forwards. Amy had the peculiar feeling that he wasn't looking ahead of him, but was thinking. Remembering.

"I… you know, it's okay. That's alright. You don't have to tell me."

"No, it's fine," he said, after a beat of silence. Amy feared that he would go silent once again, but the Doctor found his voice and finished speaking. "Beautiful place. Lots of mountains. The house I grew up in was on a mountain, actually. Lovely grass, too. Gallifreyan grass was red, nothing like the grass here on earth. And the sky. Oh, the sky. The most lovely shade of orange you'd ever see."

Amy was no expert at deducing the feelings of others, but she could hear a definite tone of sadness in the Doctor's voice. She had also paid careful attention to his words so that she could picture his planet perfectly, and had noticed he referred to it in the past tense. Like it was long gone.

She was not sure whether or not she should ask the Doctor if her suspicions were correct. Amy was deathly curious, but at the same time, it seemed like when the Doctor thought about his answer, his speech was a mixture of great pride for his home, and at the same time, a terrible sadness.

"Doctor, I… it's gone, isn't it? Oh, Doctor, I'm so sorry."

He paused. "Yeah. Yeah, it's gone. I'm the last one. There are no more Time Lords. Just me."

"Hey."

The Doctor turned to face her for the first time since leaving her office building, and expected to see what he always saw when someone learned the truth: the usual oh-I'm-so-sorry look of compassion, with a bit of sadness in the eyes for good measure. He found Amy's eyes, and she was so much different. There was only a small hint of sadness in them, like she was trying to hide it from him. Amy looked up at him with an almost unreadable expression, and her mouth curved up in a small smile.

Before he could even process why she would be smiling at him, she reached out and grabbed his hand from out of his pocket, clamping it tightly in her own. The Doctor looked down at it, shocked that she would do that with her injured hands. She gave his hand a light squeeze and held on, swinging it slightly as they walked.

"You're okay," Amy whispered. "You've got me."

It was as though nothing had been wrong at all.

* * *

><p>"Ah, there she is!"<p>

The Doctor and Amy had finally reached the alleyway where the coffee shop was, along with the TARDIS. The Doctor let go of Amy's hand and ran towards it, patting the door frame lovingly. His face scrunched up in glee, and he turned his head to face Amy, still grinning widely.

"I'll just pop in and get some bandages, I'll be right back out."

Amy jerked her body closer to him and the TARDIS eagerly. "Can I come in too?" she asked him, clamping her hands together and swinging her arms.

The Doctor's grin of happiness minimized into a sly smirk. His eyes narrowed slightly. "Patience, Pond! She's not quite done yet."

Before Amy could argue that she would be fine with just _seeing_ the inside, the Doctor had slipped inside the TARDIS without a single look back. She tugged on the door handle anyway, hoping she could sneak in behind him, but he'd locked it. Amy wasn't getting in that easily.

Settling for waiting, she leant against the wall opposite the TARDIS doors and slunk down until she was sitting on the stone ground. Growing bored, she put her handbag on the ground, pulled her mobile from her pocket and turned it on. The blasted thing was the reason she'd cut up her hands in the first place, but Amy still needed it with her. It really was her only lifeline; the only way she could immediately be with family whenever she wanted. Fixated aimlessly on the screen (which seemed awfully bright now that it was beginning to get dark), Amy suddenly felt the urge to take a photo with the small built-in camera on her mobile.

A click of a button and proof of the TARDIS was stored in her phone. Amy would at least have something to back her up if she ever bothered telling anyone about the Doctor, because she would definitely need some sort of proof for such a tall tale. And that was a big 'if'. She was only just beginning to see the truth about his stories as it was, and she doubted anyone else would.

Amy pocketed her mobile just as the Doctor appeared out of the TARDIS. He moved himself out carefully, closing the door gingerly behind him and positioning his body so that Amy couldn't see anything of the inside. He made a triumphant little noise and held up a roll of bandages to her, looking proud.

"Found these under the console! Bloody things used to be in the library, I've no idea how they got there," the Doctor rambled, trailing off at the end of his sentence.

"You keep bandages in the library?"

"No, that's stupid. I keep them in the console room, but usually they show up in the library. The TARDIS likes to move things around, she's a playful thing. Usually I can't find the library either. Or the swimming pool, which is in the library most of the time."

All Amy could do was laugh. "You're mental," she chuckled.

"Yeah, yeah, I've been told. And I think you might've told me that already. Come here Pond, your hand isn't going to bandage itself."

The Doctor then swooped down and knelt in front of her, once again unaware of his proximity. Taking one of Amy's hands carefully, he wrapped bandages around the cuts and secured them tightly. Amy had never seen him so concentrated on anything before - usually his eyes would be darting off to multiple different things and conversations would take turns in completely different directions. But with this, Amy noticed, the Doctor hardly even blinked. He finished one hand and moved on to the next, with the same intense level of concentration.

"There! All done. Now, let's go find a table."

It wasn't until the two of them were about halfway towards the coffee shop that Amy realised why she'd felt so happy all day. She wasn't so alone anymore. And as she'd told the Doctor, he wasn't either. She had not spent her whole evening watching bad movies on the telly as she'd thought she would, but instead went to bed rather early, butterflies taking her over like she was a giddy schoolgirl.

They made it to the familiar heavy wooden door when the Doctor suddenly broke their silence.

"You've got questions, Amelia. I can tell. Luckily for you I've got answers. But I have some questions of my own to ask first."

He pushed the door in front of them opened and went inside, leaving Amy staring after him. _It shouldn't be this easy for a stranger to know me better than I do,_ Amy thought. Shutting the door behind her, Amy entered the coffee shop and saw the Doctor already at the register, buying their drinks. She smiled to herself and sat herself down at their usual table, dumping her handbag on the tabletop and watching the Doctor.

She'd made the mental promise to herself that she would play along with the Doctor's stories, but it had hardly even been a day and she already felt that she was no longer pretending. The evidence was staring Amy directly in the face and was, frankly, a little hard to ignore now that she'd seen O'Brien for what he really was. Complete body transformations would be difficult to stage.

Amelia Pond, the stubborn Scottish girl who lived an ordinary life, believing in the impossible. Believing in the stories of a stranger. She'd known the Doctor for slightly more than a day, and he was already changing who she was.

Amy's thoughts were interrupted by the Doctor appearing with their drinks, and a serious expression on his face. He placed Amy's coffee in front of her and folded his hands on the table, watching her with piercing eyes.

Amy looked down at the coffee and then back up at the Doctor with a confused expression on her face. "How d'you know what kind of coffee I drink? I never told you."

"I'm very observant. Now, Amelia. An answer for an answer. You were really quite cross when you came in here before, and then you changed your attitude completely. You told me you were just stressed, and I told you that was a lie. What was the real reason?"

Amy looked back down at her drink and bit her lip. "Um… well, I was really cross because I thought you were still lying to me, and when I saw the TARDIS, that really set me off. And then I thought that you didn't seem like you were going to change your story, so I decided to play along and pretend I believed you." She paused and let out a heavy sigh. It was finally time to admit defeat. "Then all of this… stuff happened with O'Brien, and… I can't pretend any more, Doctor."

Amy looked back up at him, eyes wide and lips pouted. "I believe you now."

The Doctor, whose face had been sombre and unreadable as Amy spoke, suddenly broke into a huge, warm grin and gave an excited laugh.

"Amy Pond, I knew you'd come around."

She smiled back at him. "Now it's _my_ turn, mister. You told me all about O'Brien. I was wondering… are there, you know, other aliens around London? Wait, are there any in the room right now?"

"That's two, pick one of them!" The Doctor said scathingly.

Amy simply raised an eyebrow and smirked at him. "Answer them both," she replied in a threatening tone.

"Alright, fine. The answer to your question, Amelia Pond, is yes, there are others around London. Some of them just live like O'Brien did: simple lives, just trying to go from day-to-day. And then there's those that come to Earth with completely different intentions. There's none of them here at the moment. Well, that I'm aware of, anyway."

He huffed and leaned back in his chair with an arm over the back, eyes scanning the room. He turned back to the table and folded his hands again. "And the answer to your second question is no. Just me. Sorry to disappoint you," The Doctor said quickly. "Now, my turn again. You've told me about moving here to London, but you haven't really elaborated. Why _are_ you here?"

Amy fidgeted uncomfortably in her chair as she felt dread bubble inside her. She was going to finally admit her own stupidity to this man. The little girl who thought she could conquer the big, wide world on her own, and instead got trapped with no way out. And all because she'd wanted to run away.

"Because I was stupid, that's why. I was just eighteen, Doctor, and I thought I could do anything. That's probably the worst thing about being a teenager; you think you're invincible. I turned eighteen, I finished school and I wanted out. I wanted to see the world, to finally get away from mum and dad and all their rules, and I wanted freedom, you know? They wanted me to go to university and I didn't want that. I thought I could get all that freedom in London, but I've dug myself into a hole that's too deep to climb out of. I don't have the money to move back, let alone university, as nearly everything I make goes towards bills and food. That's it."

Amy had her eyes fixed solidly on the Doctor's coffee cup as she answered him and did not look up until she had finished speaking. He watched her with eyes that had gone from serious to sad in under a minute. He did not offer advice, try to console her, or say anything, for that matter - he just kept watching her.

"Doctor… have you ever run away from something? Because you were scared, or not ready, or just… just because you could?" Amy asked him, voice wavering slightly. "And that's not my next question, by the way. I'm just wondering," she added as an afterthought.

"Once. A long time ago."

Amy heard that same sadness in his voice from when she'd asked about his home planet earlier that evening. She didn't want to pry, but there was something inside her head that egged her on and made her want to know what it was he'd run from. Hoping she didn't come across as rude, she continued.

"What happened?"

The Doctor smiled slightly, despite the lingering sadness in his eyes, and stretched out his arms as though gesturing to himself. "Hello," he whispered.

_What does that mean? He ran, his planet's gone and now he's here…_

_Oh._

The Doctor lowered his outstretched arms as Amy cleared her throat and asked her next question. "Okay, so, um… why me? You told me you were telling me all about yourself because you were lonely and I was too. That was true, but…that wasn't completely it, was it?"

"No, Pond, it certainly wasn't. I told you because you'd listen. The toughness is a front, because you're scared and alone, so you're willing to believe in anything that's different from the life you've chosen. And like you told me, you were scared and you ran, but you haven't stopped running yet. Your mobile tipped me off - you're holding on to the very last memories you have of better things. I came along, and I'm nothing but the impossible, aren't I? I offered you stories of something different, and you accepted it."

Feeling as though she was glued to her seat, Amy reached for her coffee with a shaky hand and took a large gulp. Nobody should know this much about her after knowing her for only a day. It was ridiculous. It was terrifying.

"You can't know that. You just can't," she murmured, shaking her head slightly. "Nobody can know all of that. Not even my parents know half of that."

"I do. I'm good at understanding people, Amy. It's second nature after a while."

"After a while? How long, exactly? Because I've known you for a day and I've only just learnt your name!" Amy cried out, her voice raising in pitch.

"You really want to know that? Fine. Hundreds of years, Amelia Pond. Hundreds. It doesn't just come overnight, and frankly, I'd be a bit disturbed if it _was_, if I were you."

The Doctor's tone was serious and as was his expression, and Amy moved back slightly in her chair. "Y-you're that old?"

Neither of them had noticed that the coffee shop had emptied in the time they had been there, leaving a single other customer and the elderly couple behind the register watching their conversation intently. After Amy had stuttered out her flabbergasted response, the Doctor was suddenly aware of the silence in the shop, and raised his head to see the three other people in the room quickly turn their faces away from his.

The Doctor looked around again before slouching slightly in his chair and leaning over the table to talk to her. "I am. Nine-hundred and seven, to be precise. I don't mean that to frighten you, but I understand if you want to leave. It's not exactly a comforting thought, me being that old."

Much to the Doctor's surprise, Amy burst out laughing and slid forwards again in her chair. "Oh come on, I'm not going anywhere. It's just… shocking, like you said. It's brilliant, though! God, I've never met anyone as old as you! Erm, sorry. What's it like, though?" Amy said in a swift, excited voice.

"You're not frightened? Alright, then. It's quite different from how you lot are, I expect. Naturally, I've got loads of stuff in here," The Doctor replied, tapping a finger against the side of his head. "I remember a lot. That's why I'm so clever. I've had a long time to learn it all."

"Right, cause that doesn't sound completely conceited at all!" Amy giggled.

"Oh. I suppose you're right. I've been told that's really rude," The Doctor said with a guilty tone, scratching his cheek. "Anyway, Pond, I hate to be a downer, but it's getting quite late and you," he said, pointing at her with a fidgety hand, "have a train to catch."

The Doctor stood up suddenly and his chair skidded slightly backwards. Amy followed suit and put her coat back on and grabbed her handbag, the pair each grabbing their cups. Amy felt extremely contented - she'd had a wonderful evening, despite having to run for her life and injuring her hands in the process. She wondered to herself if every day would be like this, if she travelled with him.

The air in the alleyway had a definite chill to it as the Doctor and Amy returned to the outside world. Amy held her cup close to her face and breathed in the rich smell of her drink, letting it warm her up. The Doctor strolled casually beside her, holding his drink with the tips of his fingers. Amy felt as though she was walking on air - so much had happened today and she felt that the Doctor was really beginning to trust her. That was good. She rather liked him.

He then stopped and broke Amy's thoughtful musings, making her suddenly aware of where they were. The two of them were stood in front of the TARDIS, the moonlight casting an eerie glow on its wooden panels.

"Good evening, Pond. I'll see you tomorrow, right?"

"Of course. 'Night, Doctor," Amy said with a smile. The Doctor grinned back at her and she watched as he slipped carefully into the phone box, a bright orange light cast over his back. The blue door then shut, leaving Amy alone in the dark street, still full of life and noise.

London at night was not at all frightening to Amy, especially with the crowds of people and the flashing lights of shops and advertisements all around her. The whole way to the Underground station, Amy thought of the places she could travel with the Doctor (she was _certain_ he would take her with him once the TARDIS was done with its rest). Her knowledge of the universe was so limited, and he would certainly show her more than she could ever dream of. And there would be running. If there was trouble in the universe, which Amy was sure there was, she and the Doctor would be there, running like they had done before. It all filled Amy's thoughts on her train ride home, and invaded its way into her dreams as she slept that evening. So many creatures and places, and an awful lot of running to do.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Hello lovelies! This is a doozy of a chapter, sorry about that. xD  
>I had a lot of things I needed to cram into this chapter to keep my plans for the rest of the fic on track, that's why this chapter is nearly 5000 words long.<strong>

**And sorry for the delay, as well! There's been lots going on lately - I've been trying to enjoy the last few days of summer break I have left. I went to FanExpo (a Toronto convention) on Friday, and that was brilliant and took up the whole day. I saw LOADS of Doctor Who cosplays and merch, and I even saw Tom Felton (I didn't actually _meet_ him, though, but that's a whole other story). And yesterday was spent watching BBC 3's coverage of Muse at Reading festival, which was HUGE and bloody brilliant. **

**AND WASN'T _"Let's Kill Hitler"_ BRILLIANT? Gosh, I'm not even a fan of River but that was a really cool ep. Anyway, enough about me. I hope you enjoyed the chapter! C:**


	5. Chapter 5

Amy awoke the next morning to a feeling of uncertainty - what was she supposed to do? She could hardly just stroll into the publishing house and keep on working like nothing had happened the day before, not when the Doctor had helped her to see the truth about Mr. O'Brien. Even though, as the Doctor had said, he was simply grumpy and essentially harmless, it would be hard to ignore the fact that they had had to throw themselves down a lift shaft to escape him.

Finally convincing herself that, not matter what her decision, she would have to get out of bed at some point, Amy kicked her sheets away from her and went over to the window. She eased her curtains open slowly to avoid the startling glare of day, but was instead greeted by a slightly grey sunrise. It had begun to snow during the night, and small piles of it were beginning to collect around Amy's window. Her heart leapt - it had barely snowed at all in the past few months, and the sudden occurrence of flurries reminded her of the time of year. It was the end of November, and Christmas inched closer with each passing day.

Amy realised whilst staring out the window that she hadn't even begun to come up with any plans for Christmas yet. Should she visit her mum and dad? Should she visit her sister and her family? There was always the possibility of staying at home, but Christmases on your own were always terribly lonely for such a happy time of year. She then thought of the Doctor - they could go anywhere together on Christmas, even a quick stop in Leadworth. That would be perfect.

After several minutes of contemplation, Amy finally decided she would go to work. She didn't usually have much interaction with Mr. O'Brien during her day anyway, so she would probably be alright if she stayed at her desk.

Feeling cheery that morning, Amy went to the kitchen and decided to pack herself something for breakfast. She cut up an apple and put it in a plastic bag, placing it in her seemingly bottomless handbag. She knew that one day, she was going to have to give up and finally clean it out, but she didn't exactly have a lot of free time right then. Maybe later.

The suddenness of the snowfall meant that people had to scramble to find proper clothing. Hats and mittens were dragged out from the backs of cupboards all across London, and Amy found people to be much more irritable when bundled in multiple layers of clothing. Taking the Underground that morning was rather enjoyable for Amy, for due to the sheer amount of people on the train, it was much warmer than outside.

Snow had always made Amy feel rather excited, especially when she had been a young girl. The first snowfall of winter was one of the best times of year, a time when everything looked more beautiful with a thick blanket of white atop it, and a time when one was reminded of how close Christmas holidays were. Christmas was always Amy's favourite time of year - the cheery spirit of everyone, friends and family alike, was infectious and spread through her village like wildfire every year.

Due to the warmth of the day previous, the snowflakes melted as soon as they hit the ground. After some time, however, the temperature lowered and tiny piles of snow began to build on the corners of staircases and on the roofs of cars. Amy was thankful for the steady grip on the ground that her boots gave her, and she made her way to work without tripping over her own feet as she'd thought she would.

The air itself in the publishing house even seemed much more inviting that morning - the realisation that this was the true beginning of the holiday season was dawning on everyone, and Amy hardly even saw a single sad expression on the faces of her co-workers as they rushed up and down the staircase. Amy realised that now that November was ending, she'd soon need to drag the Christmas decorations out from the storage cupboard. _I'll get Daisy to help me with that soon_, she thought to herself.

Amy was soon sat at her desk, and she immediately reached for a pad of paper and a biro, before reaching for the phone. She always checked the voicemails first thing in the morning before doing anything else - luckily, there weren't many to go through that morning, and none that she would have to go and tell O'Brien about. Even better. This week was shaping up to be one of her best in a long while.

She hunched over the desk to write down a message from a particularly disgruntled paper supplier and did not see a figure sneak up behind her, nor did she feel a presence behind her. She did, however, feel a tap on her shoulder.

"Boo."

Amy dropped her pen, threw herself backwards in her chair and led out a shriek of surprise that grew in volume as she toppled out of her seat and onto the floor. She scrambled backwards until her back hit the wall and she looked up, heart pounding, to find a familiar face gazing back at her with an amused expression.

"You numpty, what the hell was that for? God, you're an idiot!" Amy yelped, pulling herself back up into a standing position with a slight tremble to her voice.

"Oh come on Pond, have a sense of humour! That was funny!" the Doctor said cheerily with a boyish grin.

Amy sat herself back down and thumped her hand down on the table, shooting daggers at him with her eyes. "No it bloody wasn't!" she protested, lowering her voice slightly. "I thought you were O'Brien, coming to finish me off or something! Augh, don't _do_ that!"

"Sorry, sorry. But I told you already, he's not going to do that; he didn't really even mean to come after us in the first place. You know, as a matter of fact, I had a nice chat with our friend Jack about _you_ this morning!"

Amy wriggled nervously in her seat. The thought had crossed her mind that morning that what if she went to work, and she no longer had a job at all? She'd ignored her own thoughts and gone anyway, but now that the Doctor had brought the situation up, Amy began to worry again. What if she was sitting there for no reason, when she should really be packing up her flat instead and calling her parents?

"Have I lost my job?" Amy burst out. "You know, after what happened yesterday? Oh, I have, haven't I? He's gone and sacked me because he doesn't want me telling everyone."

"Oh, no, that's the best bit! He felt so bad about yesterday that he's considering giving you a raise if you stay on as the secretary here!"

"I… really? I've still got my job?" Amy asked with a nervous laugh. "Brilliant. I'll stay, then."

The Doctor clapped his hands together with a massive grin on his face. "Excellent, I'll let him know. Anyway, how're you, Amy?"

Amy smirked at his sudden change of topic, pushed a stack of papers out of her way, and propped her elbows up on the desk.

"I'm fine. I was actually thinking about going to visit my sister Gemma tomorrow. You know, the one in Leadworth?"

The Doctor nodded, despite having never hear about Amy's sister before, let alone the name of her childhood home. He wasn't about to argue.

"So, I was planning on using one of my banked sick days, yeah? I'm just gonna spend the day with her and her family, and maybe I might visit mum and dad for a bit. D'you think O'Brien would be okay with it?"

"Oh, it's probably fine, but I'll ask him when I'm upstairs again. Have you lot got any food around here? All I can think about is food," the Doctor said quickly, changing the subject quite abruptly. He spun his head around to see if he could find a kitchen or a bit of food of some sort, to no avail.

"We do, but here," Amy told him, pulling out an apple from it's place in her handbag and tossing It to him. The Doctor caught it and spun it around in his hand, examining it carefully. "I forgot to eat it on the train," she said, answering his question before he could ask it.

The Doctor held it up to face her and pointed at it, curious. "Why the face?"

"I never really liked apples much. Then my mum put faces on them. I still do it after all these years… it's happier, I guess."

"She sounds good, your mum," he said simply, taking a rather large bite out of the apple. The Doctor shifted slightly in his slouching position on the desk to face the glass entrance, through which the snow outside was visible. He watched the softly falling flakes with great interest, his eyes slightly closed and dozy.

"Beautiful, isn't it?"

He turned back to see Amy gazing at the sky outside as well, red hair tumbling down over her hunched shoulders. She had her hands clasped together under her chin, her long, manicured fingers hung elegantly below her face.

The Doctor swallowed a chunk of apple before responding to her. "Mmhmm. And it's actually real snow, too. That doesn't happen a lot. You all think you're getting snow, but it doesn't come as often as you think it does."

Amy screwed up her face in confusion. "What's that supposed to mean? Are you saying we get fake snow _falling from the sky_?"

"Erm, never mind. Anywho Pond, I've got to head upstairs. Lots of work to do, you know. Apples to finish, biscuits to eat, books to edit. Don't let me keep you."

The Doctor tapped rhythmically on the desk, before striding confidently off, his awkward dangly legs kicking out in front of him. Amy watched him leave, realising that he looked different today - no jacket.

"Oi, space boy! Where's the lovely old tweed? I thought you said it was cool," she said, grinning at him despite trying hard not to. The Doctor spun around to answer her - quite literally, too - and headed back to her, hands in his trouser pockets.

"I never said the tweed was cool, I said the bowtie was cool. The jacket's just something I picked up. Anyway, it's in my office. Do keep up, Amy."

"Your… sorry, _what_? Did you just say _your_ _office_? Wait a minute, get over here!" Amy called out, realising that he was beginning to back away from her and go towards the stairs with a sly grin. "You don't have an office! And did you say you were going to go edit? Don't you dare edit anything!"

The Doctor didn't even bother for her to finish her yelling; he had simply turned and hurried upstairs before Amy could go after him. She sighed and rubbed at her temples, squinting her eyes shut.

"I'm _definitely_ going to be out of a job by the end of the day now," she murmured to herself.

* * *

><p>When five o'clock rolled around, the Doctor appeared out of nowhere and leaned on Amy's desk as he waited for her to finish up her last bits of paperwork, snacking absentmindedly on a tiny bowl of jelly babies at the corner of the desk. "Whatcha doing?"<p>

Amy did not look up at him but kept working, letting a smile cross her face. "Just finishing up the paperwork on our contracts. You know, paper suppliers, printing houses, things like that. But never mind me," she said, writing one last word before putting her biro down, crossing her arms and turning her head up to meet his gaze. "What exactly have _you_ been up to, mister?"

The Doctor made a noise of derision and reached for another jelly baby. "Not much, really. Walked a few laps around the fifth floor, went for a lovely lift ride… oh, and I talked to Jack, he's alright with you going on a little holiday tomorrow."

"Thank you for asking him, but I'm really concerned with how many manuscripts you got your hands on," said Amy as she shuffled her papers together and began to stand up.

He scratched at his neck nervously and cleared his throat, obviously uncomfortable with giving her a straight answer. "Oh, well… not that many. Maybe one or two."

Amy's glare narrowed and she pursed her lips, tapping her foot slightly.

The Doctor sniffed. "Maybe five."

"Oh, god."

"For your information, I made them a lot better than they were. You'll be thanking me, you'll see. Now, let's get going."

Amy put her belongings back in her handbag and followed the Doctor to the door, where she grabbed her coat and bundled herself up before going outside. The brisk chill had remained in the air, along with a stronger wind that made her hair flutter about, a sharp contrast against the blank canvas of snow. The wind carried the snow along the pavement and made the whole street appear to be white with specks of the dark ground underneath, broken only by the footprints left by pedestrians. People hurried around Amy and the Doctor as they walked, everyone eager to be outside for as little time as possible.

The bright blue of the TARDIS was even more of a shock against the alleyway it was sat in that afternoon - snow had barely gathered on it at all. The Doctor patted it affectionately with one hand and cast it a warm smile as he and Amy passed on their way to the coffee shop. Amy couldn't help but smile with him - she was feeling almost regretful for the way she'd judged him at their first meeting. He wasn't a lunatic at all - a little mad, yes, but hardly someone that would have hurt her. She could look at him and see it all - she saw the young man in appearance, but the old man that was hidden in his eyes. But there, all the same, was the almost childlike joy in the little things - snow, jelly babies, and coffee shops. It was extraordinary.

The Doctor whistled in surprise from behind Amy as she opened the front door of the shop - there were many more people at the tables today, all shivering at the cold that followed the two strangers in the door. Amy shut it hurriedly and looked around the cramped room with curious green eyes.

"Alright, the temperature change wasn't just me, then. Look Doctor, there's a table over there by the fireplace! You get the table and I'll get our drinks."

The shop owners must have noticed Amy's unusual cheer too, as the old woman behind the counter called her out on it with a wink and a quick dart of her eyes towards the Doctor, who was sat at the table by the fireplace, tying the laces on his boots. She pushed the drinks towards Amy and said with a quiet, motherly voice, "He's a handsome one, dearie."

Amy felt colour rise in her cheeks as she whisked the cups from the counter. "Yeah, he - no, I'm not, I mean, _we're_ not -"

"I was only joking, love! My, my, you said that awfully quick," she said with a chuckle in her voice. Amy gave a nervous laugh and a nod of thanks before turning back to the table and balancing the drinks carefully in her hands. She placed the Doctor's cup in front of him and then sat down in her chair as he picked up his coffee and stared down at it.

"How do you know what kind of coffee I drink?"

"I'm very observant," Amy said, mimicking the Doctor's very same words from the day before. She pulled her coat off and slung it on the back of her chair, then hung her handbag on top of it.

The Doctor raised an eyebrow at her before sipping at it carefully and fixing his eyes on her, expecting her to say something. When she said nothing, he struck up a conversation instead.

"Now, what's on the agenda today, Pond? Famous faces? Planets?"

Amy, who had been watching the crackling fire with great interest, was brought back to reality at the sound of the Doctor's voice. "Actually, I was thinking today about how you travel. If you're really as old as you told me, haven't you ever had people travelling with you? Any special girls you've shown off to?" Amy asked, doing a dramatic swaying motion in her seat.

The Doctor had folded his hands together in front of his face but they did not hide the glare he shot at Amy, who simply smiled back at him. He breathed in sharply and brought his hands down suddenly on the table while saying, "Well yeah, 'course I've travelled with people. Loads of people."

"Hmm. Girls?" asked Amy. When he did not immediately answer her, she let out a loud laugh and reached across the table to swat at his arm. "You dog! Look at you, the intergalactic big shot, showing off to the ladies! Oh, alright, I'm just kidding. But honestly though, what were they like?"

"They were brilliant, all of them. Just brilliant." The Doctor spoke with an air of slight sadness and he stared forwards, but Amy knew that he was not seeing her. He was seeing far, far back, thinking of his beloved companions. "And brave. They're always brave."

"I'm willing to listen, you know, about any of them. About all of them."

Thinking back years later, Amy remembered that moment with great clarity. He watched her with those piercing blue eyes, an intensity in them that shook her to the bone. He then began to speak to her, his voice at a slow pace at first that began to speed up to the point she had to concentrate very hard to understand him. The Doctor seemed to want to convey so many thoughts at once that the words poured from his mouth; words that told stories, described people and created elaborate pictures in Amy's head. He spoke briefly of every companion he'd had, but from the way he spoke, she felt like she knew them all personally.

The Doctor began speaking about the radiation that has fatally poisoned him, when Amy cut him off.

"I - um, sorry, but radiation poisoning _is_ fatal, so… why aren't you dead?"

He raised an eyebrow in confusion, as though he didn't understand why she was asking this question. "I regenerated, Amy, isn't that obvious?"

"…you what?"

"Oh, I haven't told you about that. It's a Time Lord's way of cheating death, you see. When we're near death, we regenerate. It changes our bodies and personalities, but we're still alive and we remain essentially the same person. That's actually why I have to let the TARDIS be for a while. Radiation poisoning is what killed the last me, so my regeneration was particularly violent, and the poor old girl couldn't handle it. She's not going to be flying anywhere until she's done repairing."

Amy took one last sip of her coffee and placed her empty cup down on the table as she listened. "So you just sleep in it, but you can't travel anywhere, yeah?"

The Doctor pointed a long finger at her and winked. "That's it. I think she might be ready on Friday. How does that sound to _you_, Amy Pond?"

Amy felt her heart give a giant leap and she heard herself gasp at his words. She didn't even have to ask, and that was the magic of him. He just _knew_.

"D'you mean that? I-I can really go with you? I can go anywhere I want - any planet, any time, anywhere?" she felt herself stutter out. She gave a tiny, shocked laugh and ran her hands through her hair. "Wow."

"I _do_ mean that! All of time and space, everything that ever happened or ever will. Where do you want to start?"

The thrill at the mere thought of that shot it's way through Amy's heart and made her shiver with anticipation. She knew that her life was about to completely change - she felt it in her bones. Gone would be the mundane chores of everyday life, the people in the streets and the bores of work. Amy Pond, off to see all of time in space with an impossible man in an impossible time machine.

Amy laughed once more, the awe evident on her face. She clapped her hands over her mouth and shook her head. "Sorry, sorry. This is just… oh my god, I can go with you! I'm actually going to see the universe!"

The Doctor smiled widely at her, placing his now empty cup next to hers on the table and leaning heavily on his elbows. "When she's done repairing, you'll be the first to know, Pond. Now, for the second night in a row, I'm the bearer of bad news, but you should really get on your way home. You've got a big day ahead of you."

"Oh! Yes, I do. I've got to go for about three hours to get to Leadworth. Trains and stuff, you know. I should probably look into getting a car," Amy said with a thoughtful voice as she stood up and pushed her chair in. The Doctor followed suit and grabbed their empty cups from the tabletop, tossing them in a bin next to the fireplace. He followed Amy out of the coffee shop, where she suddenly cried out and rounded on him. She turned to face him, her eyes wide and her mouth agape.

"Doctor, I just thought - did you see Daisy at all at work? She walks past my desk all day every day, and she didn't it at all today. I can't believe I didn't realise that until right now."

He walked down the alleyway beside her as she stared at him, still wide-eyed and he thought, face contorted as he remembered.

"Daisy… Daisy… no, she wasn't there. Oh! Oh, I remember now, she was in for a bit this morning before you showed up. She went to O'Brien to quit; she said she couldn't work with him knowing what she did."

"She quit? Woah," Amy said, clearly shocked by his words. "Well, that's rubbish. She was really the only person I talked to during the day. I'll call her when I'm on the train in the morning… I hope she can get a new job."

"Oh, I'm sure she'll have no problem. She's a clever girl, Daisy. Anyway, what's your sister Gemma like?"

"Oh, she's wonderful, I just know you'd love her. She's a lot like me… we actually look the same too, except she's got my mum's curly hair. She was a schoolteacher in Leadworth before she had a baby - I forgot to mention that, she's married and she's got a little boy named Alfie. Lovely little kid. I miss him to death sometimes, you know. She'd always drop him off at our house when she needed to pop down to the shops for a bit and I'd watch after him. She'd already been out and living with her husband for a while, you know. Went to university and everything before that… I always suspected that she was the favourite."

"Oh, come on, Amy. Parents don't have favourites, younger children just think that they do," the Doctor said strongly, looking at Amy as though he was offended by her words.

Amy scoffed and kicked at the snow on the ground with the front of a boot. "Gem's the successful one, Doctor. She went to university, got a proper job and a husband, and had a baby. She's got a nice little house and everything. Of _course_ she's the favourite."

Amy squealed in fright as the Doctor suddenly wheeled around so that he was standing directly in front of her. He placed his hands on either side of her face and stared her directly in the eyes, and Amy felt her stomach twist as she looked back at him.

"Amy Pond, you can't be so hard on yourself. You are not a failure, and you most certainly are a success. You're wonderful and absolutely magnificent. Don't you dare ever forget that."

She felt her breathing become erratic and broken and her eyes bugged out, darting back and forth. Without saying anything else on the matter, the Doctor moved his hands away from her face to rest on her shoulders.

"Alright! Now, the TARDIS awaits. I'll see you… Friday, then?"

Amy cleared her throat and shook her head to regain her concentration. "Oh! Erm, yeah. Friday. See you, Doctor," she said with a wink. She turned on her heel and walked out of the alley and past the TARDIS, but before continuing down the street, turned around to look behind her. The Doctor was leaning on the TARDIS and watching her, a contented little smile on his lips. Amy gave a tiny wave with one hand and went off down the snowy street towards the Underground.

She found it very difficult to get any sleep that night - there were far too many ideas of exciting things roaming around in her mind. She thought of her trip home tomorrow, and how good it would be to see Gemma, her husband Ethan and little Alfie. She thought of Daisy, and the excitement of her new job. And she thought of the Doctor, as she had so often done in her dreams that week. Her future travels were set in stone now, and butterflies went mad in the pit of her stomach at the very thought.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Hello lovelies! Sorry for taking so long to update this. I started school on Tuesday, so that's been keeping me pretty busy. I'm able to balance things out now, so expect updates to show up much more often now!**

**And, to be honest, I've been fighting off a TERRIBLE bit of writer's block. This was a blank Microsoft Word document until about three days ago. xD**

**Reviews are greatly appreciated, as always! C: x**


	6. Chapter 6

The same butterflies in her stomach that Amy had fallen asleep to remained with her when she woke up the next morning. This time, she was unsure of what it was she was most anxious about - seeing her family again, or the prospect of the whole universe being at her fingertips in a day's time. Grinning to herself, Amy threw her sheets off of her and scurried around her room, packing things madly into a large handbag. She peered out through the curtains to check the weather - it was still snowing, the flurries moving slower today. Bundling in warm clothes, Amy locked up her flat and headed out of the building, past the warm bookshop downstairs and out into the mass of people that was London on a workday.

The only downfall to visiting Leadworth when living in London was the length of the commute. Due to the fact that it took around three hours to get to Leadworth, Amy had to catch a train bright and early that morning, but luckily had her mobile and her CD player to keep her company. She texted back and forth with Daisy as the train thundered on (Amy found out that she was _already_ out looking for a new job), but due to the large amount of overtired businesspeople crammed into the seats around her, Amy had to keep her music as low as she could while still audible. _It's funny_, she thought to herself as she looked at everyone nearby. _I was that way earlier this week. I must just see everything differently now with the Doctor._

Once she got off of her train, Amy headed straight for the nearest Underground station and hopped aboard, something she was already familiar with. Shortly before she was due to make her stop, Amy called her mum to let her know that she was nearly there. She'd made arrangements earlier for her mum to drive down to pick her up, which would cut out loads of time in the long run.

Tabetha Pond rolled up to the kerb in her tiny little car and gave a cheery little honk of the horn. Amy hurried over and jumped in, greeting her mother with an overzealous hug and a kiss on the cheek. By that point, nearly everyone was off the roads and at work, making the drive back to Leadworth as smooth as Amy had dreamed it would be. Except for the occasional little remark from her mother about the length of her skirt. That was always an ongoing battle.

Amy's visit with her parents seemed to go on for a long while - she didn't know at what point in her life it had occurred, but it seemed as though having a conversation with her parents was far more awkward now than it had ever been before. They seemed to be much quieter and more reserved with far less to talk about than Amy did. She told them about the Doctor, but altered her story to make it sound as though she had simply met an ordinary man called John Smith. It was far from the truth, but she knew that some things had to remain a secret. Amy's father told her that he liked the sound of him, and her mother fretted over whether or not it would be safe to be around a stranger in London.

Halfway through a conversation with her mum about what exactly it was she did at work, Amy's dad put the television on and turned up the volume. Annoyed, her mum excused herself to the kitchen for a moment, and Amy made her escape to the toilet. She sent a speedy text to Gemma ("Get over here ASAP!") and went back to the parlour, trying to watch telly with her dad without running off somewhere else as her mum had. It was not that she did not enjoy spending time with her family, no - it was that it had begun to seem that the three of them had completely run dry of things to talk to each other about. And frankly, Amy didn't think she could sit through any more of her mother's gossip on her colleagues.

Gemma soon strolled up to the front door, much to their mother's surprise and joy, and went into the foyer to sit with Amy. The two of them sat there for a while, trying to begin conversations but only receiving one-word answers. Telling their mum and dad that Gemma wanted to show Amy how different her house was and that they would likely be back later, the two sisters got to the front door. Mrs. Pond met them there, telling them of their father's rough week at work, how that was the reason for his grumpy mood, and that they really did miss having their children around. She bade them farewell, and they set off down the road to Gemma's house.

Gemma's house was only a few minutes walking distance from their childhood home, but felt like it was in a town all on its own. The front garden was full of life and wildly growing plants, with an almost magical feel to it. The inside was cosy, and crammed just as full of interesting things as the garden.

After about an hour of catching each other up on the goings-on in each other's lives, Gemma excused herself to go and quickly buy groceries. Amy promised in her best impression of a child's voice to not set any fires, and with a smile, Gemma left.

Amy found the house to somehow be more welcoming than usual, despite having no visible differences from the last time she'd visited. She thought to herself that it was probably due to her homesickness. She'd certainly never enjoyed her time in Leadworth when she was younger, and she never would have dreamed that there would come a time she'd want to come back home again after running for freedom. Amy did notice, however, that there were many more toys strewn around than she remembered. She really had missed out on far too much of her nephew's childhood.

Amy lowered herself slowly onto the couch, acquainting herself with her surroundings. Realising that she would likely be waiting for her sister to return home for a while longer, Amy went to reach for a newspaper lying on table near her. She found it odd reading about the lives of ordinary townspeople for the first time in ages; she'd nearly forgotten how even the simplest of things made the news in Leadworth. Amy was ripped from her concentration by a sharp, confident knock at the front door. Why was Gemma back so soon? Tossing the newspaper aside, she hoisted herself up from the squashy armchair and strode to the front door. With steady fingers she turned the doorknob, and her eyes went as wide as saucers at who stood behind it.

"Arthur! Hello! Thought I'd ju- Pond?"

The Doctor stopped dead in the middle of his sentence and stood there staring at Amy, absolutely befuddled. She too was stood open-mouthed in the doorway, but gave a small laugh at the situation. He then gave her a wide grin and shoved his hands into the pockets of his jacket as she placed her hands on her hips and narrowed her eyes at him.

"Are you stalking me? Come on now, Doctor. And who's Arthur?" she asked, a smile sparkling in her eyes. Amy leaned herself against the door to allow the Doctor entry and he did so, looking like an excited and curious child.

"I don't _stalk,_ Pond, that sounds awful. Ooh, this is lovely. And lots of toys, not too bad… is the family home?" he asked happily, turning back to her and completely ignoring her question.

"Uh, if you mean my mum and dad's house, no. It's my sister's, you know, cause I told you I'd be here? Because unlike _some_ people," Amy said, tipping her head in his direction and giving him a wink, "I keep my word."

"Excuse me, I kept my word. I've just been out visiting old friends, you know. Well, the trouble is that none of them really recognize me at the moment, so it takes quite a bit of convincing," the Doctor rambled. He had taken one of Gemma's photos off of the wall and was turning it upside down curiously. "Who's this?"

Amy peered over his shoulder to see the photo he was talking about. It was a somewhat old shot of Gemma and her at a Christmas party. She was sat next to a twinkling, fully decorated tree in an oversized jumper, while Gemma was beside her in a tightly fitted party dress, heavily pregnant.

She gave a warm smile as she thought back. "That's Gem and I. This _is_ her house, Doctor. She was so uncomfortable that night, poor thing. She had the baby two days later!" Amy laughed.

"She looks just like you, Pond! She's even got the hair, 'cept hers is curlier," the Doctor muttered gleefully. He hung the frame back up on the wall, right-side up and went past her into the front room, bandy-legged as always. "That, and she's a bit... well, _elephant-y_," he said, waggling his fingers dramatically over his shoulder.

"Pregnant, shut up," Amy chuckled, adjusting the photo and following him.

"Isn't anyone else home? Thought someone would've heard us by now," he sighed, plopping himself heavily onto the couch.

"Nope," Amy quickly answered, popping the 'p'. "Gem dropped me off here and went out to the shops, and Ethan and Alfie have gone out for the day. It's just me for now. Actually, no, there's some bloke upstairs."

"Some bloke upstairs?" the Doctor repeated back to her, imitating her accent.

Amy raised an eyebrow and set her jaw, sitting herself down next to him. "Yeah. Well, I think so. They needed a bit of extra money, so they're taking a lodger in the room upstairs. He never comes downstairs for food or anything, apparently. Sort of weird. And I keep saying 'he', but I don't really know if it's a bloke or not. Gem didn't really say. Oh, d'you want anything to drink? I think she's got some coffee somewhere in the kitchen. Or tea, anything you fancy."

"Coffee'd be lovely, thanks. Say, what's with the stain on the ceiling?"

The Doctor stood back up from his seat on the couch and went close to it

"Dunno. It's just an ordinary bit of rot. Probably just a burst pipe or something, isn't it?" Amy called out, too preoccupied with her work in the kitchen to peek around the corner.

He continued to stare at the dark stain and shook his head, though Amy could not see him. "I don't think that's what it is at all."

The noises coming from the kitchen ceased and Amy came back into the room, two mugs of steaming coffee in her hands. She put them down on the table in front of the sofa and went to stand next to the Doctor, watching his face carefully. Whatever was so fixating about the mess on the ceiling was probably not as ordinary as she'd thought it to be.

"Erm, Doctor? Just sit down for a minute, yeah? And tell me who Arthur is!" she said under her breath, playfully poking him in the ribs. Amy sat herself back down on the couch and patted the space next to her.

The Doctor took one last lingering look before turning and sitting back down on the couch, coffee in hand. He took a long sip, cleared his throat, and said simply, "Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, I believe you'd know him better as. I just call him Arthur. Don't ever call him Artie, though. He's not big on that." The Doctor made a face at the thought.

"What? Isn't that the bloke who wrote Sherlock Holmes?"

"That'd be him. Good man, Arthur. I was trying to go visit him, but this," the Doctor said, gesturing around the room with his free hand, "clearly isn't his house. Old girl's still running wonky."

Amy scrunched up her face in confusion and shot the Doctor a look of contempt. "You told me she couldn't fly properly yet, that's why I couldn't go with you yet. Lying to me already, are you?"

"No!" he spluttered. "No, no, she can fly a _bit_. Sort of. Okay, not really. Just thought I'd give it a go. That's the first time I've tried flying her, I walked everywhere else."

"And the flying bit doesn't really happen?"

"Erm, no."

"Rubbish space ship you've got there, Doctor," Amy teased.

"I _would_ interject, Pond, but look at that," he answered her, pointing up at the ceiling. "That's no ordinary stain, and you know it."

"Uh, no, I don't. You seem to keep forgetting that I'm not a genius alien too."

As she spoke, the Doctor placed his mug back down on the table and pulled his sonic screwdriver from his pocket. A brilliant green light shone from the tip and a high-pitched screech filled the air, and the Doctor pulled it back, inspecting it closely.

"Getting anything?" Amy asked interestedly, taking a rather large gulp of coffee.

Apparently not hearing her voice, the Doctor began to mutter to himself, rubbing his face with his hand. "That's… no, that can't be. That can't be."

"Doctor?" She tried to peer over his shoulder at the sonic screwdriver in his hand but saw nothing amiss with it.

"That stain, it's not a burst pipe or water damage, like you said. The readings it's giving off are… they're human."

Amy, who had been tipping back her mug as he told her what was wrong, suddenly made a loud choking noise and smacked it back down on the table. "What? It's _human_? Are you saying that big dark thing on the ceiling is a creature or something?" she asked, pulling her legs up from the floor and onto the couch with her.

"No, I mean… the stain is made from humans, Amy. Burnt human beings. Whatever's up there is taking people and murdering them."

"Oh my god."

Thankfully, Amy had not been holding her mug in her hands at that moment, because before another word could be said, the Doctor grabbed her arm and pulled her with him into the front hall, directly in front of the staircase.

"What're you doing?" Amy asked, her Scottish accent sounding strong.

"I want a quick peek at what's up there. Can you wait here, Amy? I'll just be a second, I promise."

"If you think I'm going to wait here while you get killed upstairs, you can guess again, sunshine," Amy told him, a hint of anger in her voice.

"Oh. Well, I should've told you that I'm doing it no matter what, then, shouldn't I?"

Amy gave a defiant laugh at the Doctor's words and quickly moved to block his path, arms outstretched. "The hell you are."

"Sorry."

Before she could even think about fighting him off, the Doctor grabbed Amy roughly by the shoulders and kissed her on the forehead. Shock took over her mind and the Doctor took advantage of her confusion by moving her back towards the front door, opening it and nudging her outside just enough that he could slam the door shut and lock it behind her.

"Hey! Let me in! Come on, open up!" Amy yelled into the wood, rattling the door handle. "That's not fair, you can't just kiss me and shove me out the door! Doctor!"

Growling, Amy turned herself around and slid down to the steps, leaning against the door. "Idiot," she muttered.

"Hey Amy!"

Amy heard a friendly voice call out to her and she stood up to look down the road. A sandy-haired man was just visible coming down the road on a bicycle - her old friend Rory Williams. He'd been one of her best mates at school, but the two of them had grown somewhat distant since he went off to university and she moved to London. She'd nearly forgotten how he'd biked past her house day after day when they were kids, just to give her a wave.

Rory was closer now, and she could see a wide grin on his face as he went past. He rang the bell on his handlebars and gave her a cheery wave, one she hadn't seen in ages. She returned his greeting with a smile and watched him go around the corner and out of sight. _I really ought to get in touch with him some time_, she thought. _I don't see my old friends often enough for someone who used to see them all the time. They've probably got lovely little domestic lives of their own now. And look at Amy Pond, dreadfully bored and agreeing to let an idiot roam free in her sister's house._

"Please can you help me?"

The sound of a young girl's voice behind her made Amy turn back towards the house, confused as to who it could be. She peered around the small garden and the front steps, but saw no one. There was no room to properly hide as far as she could see, and there certainly hadn't been any children around when she'd come out here.

Thinking it was coming from the thick overgrown hedges beside the house, Amy crouched down and shuffled over to them. She knelt down carefully in the damp grass, bare knees cold against the ground, and pushed apart the hedge - there was nothing and nobody there.

"Can you help me, please? Can you help me?" the girl's voice begged again, sounding more impatient than before. This time it came from behind Amy - it must have been coming from the intercom. But how, when there wasn't a little girl in the house?

Unless it was coming from upstairs.

Pitching forwards, Amy launched herself to the door and pulled violently at it, only to find that no matter how hard she tried, it would not budge. She slammed her fists heavily against the thick wood, hating herself for not thinking to make him promise not to lock it. There was not even a window she could smash to get his attention, just a heavily bolted door and no way around it.

"Doctor! Doctor! Open the damn door! Doctor!" she hollered through the thin line around the doorframe, praying that he could hear. "Doctor!"

Cursing, Amy hurried down the tiny steps and went to the aged window directly beside the door, only to find that it took was shut just as tightly. She shot around the house towards the back garden, adrenaline pumping quickly through her body as she desperately hunted for a way back inside. Thick and heavy branches smacked roughly against her bare legs and left sickening red welts on Amy's skin as she ran through the plants. She came to a sudden halt, feet slipping in the damp grass, and bolted towards the house at the sight of the back door, which was thankfully left unlocked. Amy threw it open with all her might and did not bother to close it.

"Doctor! Doctor! Where are you?" she bellowed. She prayed that he could hear all of the noise she was making, what with her boots squeaking loudly on the aged floor and the screams of his name. "Doctor, please!"

"I'm in here, Amy," the Doctor said simply. He did not sound frightened or hurt, but there was a hint of confusion to his tone, as if he did not understand her panic.

She rounded the nearest corner and found the Doctor stood at the bottom of the stairs, looking up at the top with an air of frustration. He looked over at Amy and looked back, sighing, ignorant to her furious glare.

"You bloody idiot," Amy choked out, her face twitching with rage. "You absolute, bloody _idiot_."

"Sorry?" he asked in an insulted tone.

"Why would you lock the door? I heard a voice call out; you could've gone upstairs and been killed and I would still be outside, you great numpty!" She called out, raising her voice and smacking him on the arms.

"…what do you mean, it called out to you? _What_ called out to you, Amelia?" the Doctor asked seriously, ignoring her rather violent outburst.

"A little girl on the intercom. Aren't you _listening_ to me, Doctor? I was out in the front garden, freezing to death because whatever you were doing was oh so important, and someone called out from upstairs. I thought they were going after you, so I just…" Amy trailed off and sighed heavily, shaking her head. "Just… don't do that, Doctor. Don't."

"Hey, everything's fine," he said, suddenly pulling her into a hug. "S'alright, Amy. I'm here, nothing's happened to me. Now, we've got bigger fish to fry."

The Doctor broke free from their embrace and went into the parlour without another word, leaving a dazed Amy in his wake.

"Sorry, what?"

"There's something big going on up there, Amy. I can feel it. The air is all… wibbly," the Doctor answered her, flapping his arms around madly. "And the fact that the stain is human," he yelled, "doesn't make this any easier!" The Doctor suddenly paused and peered over at her, his suspended hands lowering to hang down by his sides. His mouth continued to hang open and he did not speak, but simply watched her as though he had just come to a huge realisation.

"Wait. It's you. Everything, it's about you," he told her, the tone of his voice changing completely to one full of shock, something Amy had rarely heard from him.

"…w-what?" Amy whispered, her mouth hardly moving at all. She had a terrible feeling of dread rush its way through her whole body, freezing her with fear.

"That's why it wouldn't let me in. It doesn't want me, it… it must want you."

"It wouldn't let you in? Doctor, why would it want me? I haven't been here in ages, and last time I _was_, there was nobody in the room upstairs. It's never seen me before."

"Oh!" the Doctor yelped, the sudden noise making Amy jump in surprise. "It _has_ seen you before, don't you see? It's seen your sister, and the two of you look similar, so it mistook you for her. Whatever's up there… it's been watching Gemma and her family for quite a while now. And it wants them."

Amy felt her stomach twist and a lump form in her throat. "That's sick. Whatever it needs them for, it can damn well go and find someone else," she snapped. "Why would it even need them? What's up there that needs… people?"

"That's what we don't know yet. But from what I'm getting, whatever is happening up there is taking humans and burning them up. That's the stain. We need to figure out who's up there. Or what, I should say."

"You don't think it's a person?"

"No Amy, I certainly do not."

* * *

><p>Amy had never been one to snoop in the belongings of others, but judging by how the Doctor was already pulling out drawers this way and that in a search for answers, that would be their only choice. Despite her guilt in going through Gemma's things, Amy convinced herself repeatedly that it was for the best and for the safety of everyone. She hoped.<p>

The two of them soon came to the conclusion that the stain on the ceiling was definitely the only one in the house. As far as they could see, there were no similar marks anywhere else in the house, meaning their only problem was whatever resided upstairs. The troubling thing was that, as far as Amy could remember from her conversations with Gemma, someone _had_ rented out the room upstairs, but her sister had not said who it was. Oddly enough, neither Amy nor the Doctor had any luck finding any sort of paperwork giving a name, adding to their growing suspicion.

Leaving the Doctor to finish going through one final drawer, Amy began a search of the front hall. Too caught up in the contents of a closet, it hardly even registered as odd to her that the front door was now wide open. Closing the closet door and moving to re-enter the main room to tell the Doctor that her quick search had turned up no clues, Amy finally noticed the door and felt a cold chill run down her back.

Sighing in frustration, the Doctor sharply shut the drawer he'd been looking in. Realising he could no longer head her movement behind him, the Doctor turned to find that Amy was no longer in the room with him, but was instead in the front hallway, looking around. Amy suddenly screamed aloud, the shrill sound echoing through the house and around the room. The calming peace that had previously been in the room suddenly snapped and turned into a bone-chilling silence. The only sound that could be heard was the sound of Amy's heavy boots on the floor. The lights around the house then gave a sudden flicker, as though great amounts of electricity were being used all at the same time.

"No!"

The Doctor toppled the small desk to the ground in his rush to get to her, the clattering noise deafening him to any sound she was still making until he reached the front hallway. The fear that bubbled in him was almost crippling - he had gotten her into this. He should have told her specifically to stay near him, but he did not, and his regret was dominant in his mind. She sounded as if she were running - had something come down the staircase?

"No, Gemma! No!"

The Doctor skidded to a halt in the front hallway and caught a glimpse of Amy's boots on the stairs out of the corner of his eye. She was practically throwing herself upstairs in a terrifying hurry, and the Doctor's throat constricted when he saw why. A set of keys was dangling from the key hole in the door, which was propped open with several bulging supermarket bags. The breeze coming in through the open door certainly had nothing to do with the cold the Doctor was feeling.

Gemma had gone upstairs.

"Amy!"

Amy stood on the landing at the top of the stairs, pulling roughly on the door handle whilst calling out her sister's name. The Doctor followed quickly up the stairs and pulled at her shirtsleeve to get her to move back from the door, but with a furious glare and a violent movement of her arm, she pulled herself free and resumed her struggle with the door. Giving up on the handle, she aimed two heavy kicks at it before whirling around to face the Doctor once more.

"Help me!" she demanded, reaching out impatiently to grab the lapels of the Doctor's jacket. He stumbled awkwardly the rest of the way up and reached for Amy. He placed a hand on each of her shoulders and stared at her intently, reminding her immediately of their adventure at the publishing house. This man brought a massive amount of danger with him wherever he went, and she was more aware of that fact than she had ever been before. And now her sister was in trouble - but the Doctor was her only way of saving Gemma. If they didn't get through that door now, she would most certainly be dead.

Amy grasped the Doctor's forearms and felt her chin quiver. There was no more time; it had to be now.

"Please," she whispered, her eyes heavy with tears. "Doctor, please. Now."

"Stand back."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Eek, it's been ages since I updated! School really bites in September, believe me. Oh, and Gemma's son Alfie isn't based on Craig's son Alfie in any way. Weird coincidence, though. Two Lodger-themed stories and two Alfies. I didn't know anything about that, I swear!**


	7. Chapter 7

Amy blinked through the heavy weight in her eyes. "What?"

"Stand back, I'm breaking the door down," the Doctor replied, nudging her slightly out of the way with his arm. "Alright, here we go."

"Are you mad? You're stick thin; you can't break her door down! You'll shatter your arm!"

The Doctor, who was hopping slightly on the spot, gave a small laugh and breathed out loudly. "Nah, I'll be fine. But you're _definitely_ going to want to stand back!"

"Doctor! Just use -"

Amy's sentence was cut off by a thunderous bang and she screamed, turning immediately to face the wall and shielding her face (she was certain that she wasn't in need of any _more_ bandages on her). The Doctor threw all of his weight against the door with an exuberant cry of 'Geronimo!', and it came smacking down. Amy heard the sound of small metal pieces of the doorframe shooting like bullets, and was surprised that the Doctor had actually had the physical strength to make that happen. The Doctor toppled to the ground with the door, also shocked that his plan had actually worked.

Deciding it was now safe to move from her safety zone, Amy scrambled towards the now open doorframe to help the Doctor up. He groaned audibly and stretched out his neck, his face scrunched up. "Not the smartest of ideas," he mumbled to Amy as he rubbed at his arm.

"Why couldn't you just use your sonic?"

"For your information, Pond, it doesn't do wood!" the Doctor snapped. "Now, I- oh, woah."

He paused in the middle of his thought to take a look at their new surroundings. Whatever he and Amy had had thought was behind the locked door, this certainly wasn't it: the room was dark around the edges, the only light coming from a large control panel in the middle of the room. There were several gigantic pillars around the room, looking almost like grotesque, overgrown spider legs. A bluish-white, foggy glow came from lights attached to the tops of the pillars, casting ominous shadows around the room. The more she thought about it, the more Amy realised that the room was much more massive than she'd thought it would be - it was bigger on the inside.

Amy was suddenly aware of the Doctor's face close to hers. While still peering cautiously around, he moved close to her ear and whispered, "I think it's best we quiet down for a moment."

She nodded, too fearful to make a sound. The Doctor snaked a careful hand to her arm and pulled her slowly along with him, careful to be as silent as possible. Cold fear gripped Amy - it was so dark, how could they be sure that nothing was waiting for them in the shadows?

"Doctor," Amy began, "w-where's Gem-"

The Doctor let out a blunt 'Shh!' and pressed a finger to Amy's lips. Smartly, he turned away from her to keep watch and didn't notice her shooting daggers at him with her eyes.

"I don't understand," he told her under his breath. "She came up here. You saw her, didn't you? So why isn't she here? Look at that panel," the Doctor said, a perplexed tone to his speech. "All the bright lights and interesting buttons, you'd think she'd be drawn to it!"

A terrified moan rang out from behind them, and the Doctor and Amy whipped around to see Gemma staggering limply out of the shadows, a strange glow attached to her outstretched hand. She had her other arm fixed on her outstretched one, as though trying to pull it away.

"Gemma!" Amy screamed, running full-speed towards her sister. She reached her and stood there, her arms fidgeting around in a desperate attempt to find a way to help her. Gemma stood before a massive control panel with a glowing orb attached to it, crackling with electricity. Beams of energy were reaching out like tight ropes around her hands, pulling her loudly protesting form ever closer.

The Doctor ran to meet the two of them before even daring to examine their surroundings. Recognizing the intent of the persistent technology at once, he flapped his arms madly about in the same fashion as Amy. Gemma's terrified babbles and Amy's echoing pleas for the Doctor's help didn't make his concentration any easier.

"The panel, it's controlling her, Amy! It's willing her to touch the activator and it's not going to stop until someone activates it!" the Doctor spit out, his words quickly pouring from his mouth. "We need to get her away from it!"

Pulling roughly on Gemma's arm, Amy tried to haul her sister away to no avail. The power connecting her to the controls increased in power, dragging Gemma towards it and sending Amy sprawling backwards. The Doctor rushed to take her place, whipped out his sonic screwdriver and pointed it directly at the orb to cut the power. Gemma's hand suddenly slammed down on it and she gave a bloodcurdling scream of agony.

The Doctor turned back to balance Amy and bellowed, "It's a deadlock seal, I can't break her from it!"

Amy opened her mouth to shout back to him when the noise of the controls ceased and Gemma crumpled weakly to the ground. Amy was by her side in the blink of an eye, hugging her close and rubbing her hair to soothe her.

"You said it was sealed. Why'd it let her go?" Amy asked him, the obvious sound of relief in her voice.

The Doctor pretended not to hear her and instead began to go looking around the room. He found nothing of interest and was about to return to the two women behind him when something on the other side of the room caught his eye. It was a skeleton, lying by the opposite side of the controls. From what the Doctor could see, the body was dried out and close to dust - it must have been another one of the human victims.

"I don't know, but-"

Before the Doctor could get closer to the body, a loud flickering noise filled the room. The form of an elderly man appeared in front of the Doctor, and Amy gave a loud gasp of surprise from her place beside Gemma.

"You will help me."

The fact that the first words from the hologram were a demand, the Doctor was taken aback.

"Right, not until you tell me what's happened first. Go on."

Gemma lay on the floor, eyes wide as she whimpered. Amy rubbed at her back to calm her down, but the gravity of their situation was obvious, no matter how weak she was. The Doctor, however, gave no indication of fear, and simply stood defiantly in front of the old man.

"The ship has crashed," the hologram informed him, monotone. "The crew are dead. A pilot is required."

"Ah, so that's it then, is it? You're the emergency crash program. You've been luring people up here from the road to try them out as pilots, have you? Clearly they're not compatible, judging by the mess you're making on the downstairs ceiling. Everyone you've tried has burnt up and you mean to keep trying, only that's not going to work with me." The Doctor spoke softly and did not once raise his voice, and to anyone else he would seem calm. However, Amy could sense the storm brewing underneath, the quiet rage that was beginning to bubble inside him.

With a swift movement, the Doctor shoved a hand into his jacket and pulled out his sonic screwdriver. That familiar buzzing rang around the ship and as he pointed the sonic at the old man, the image of him flickered and transformed into that of a little girl, then a young man, and back to the old man once more.

"That was her. That must have been who I heard," Amy muttered to herself. Gemma was beginning to sit upright and Amy had to carefully watch that her limbs didn't give out. She reached out for Amy's hand and she took hold of it immediately, awestruck at the sight in front of her.

"You will help me."

"You're stupid, aren't you? Human brains just don't _work_. This is alien technology, they haven't got the compatible brainpower to work these controls."

"Oi!" Amy yelled out, clearly affronted.

Ignoring the input of Amy and the Doctor, the old man continued on with his information. "Seventeen people have been tried. Six billion, four hundred thousand and twenty-six remain.

"Doctor, what's going on? Why-" Amy cried out, trying to make sense of what was happening around them.

The Doctor gave an irritated sigh. "Oh, for goodness' sake. The top floor of Gemma's house is in reality an alien spaceship intent on slaughtering the population of the planet. Any other questions? No? Good."

Amy could not see Gemma's face from where she was positioned, but she imagined that it projected a look of sheer terror. There was nothing quite like coming home from the shops, being lured upstairs and nearly being murdered.

"The correct pilot has now been found."

It had been quiet in between replies before, but the silence that followed the hologram's last words froze the three of them on the spot. The Doctor had just said aloud that human brains were not compatible, something he likely should have kept to himself.

The Doctor gulped. "Yes, I was worried you'd say that."

Amy was about to jump up and hurry over to him, but before she could make a move, long fingers of energy slithered out of the orbs on the panel and grabbed at his hands, and with a look of panic, the Doctor was pulled towards the console.

Shrieking in terror, Amy moved Gemma gently aside as quickly as she could and ran to him, eyes darting around for something to free him with. As much as she had hoped there would be, there was no off-switch. It was _never_ that simple.

"Doctor, what do I do?" Amy begged, dread taking her over.

He let out a growl of frustration before answering her. "Uh, let me think! No, don't let me think, that takes too long! Amy, this ship wants to get out of Leadworth, it wants to leave… oh, that's it! Oh, that's beautiful. Gemma! Do you want to leave this village?"

Taken aback by her sudden inclusion in Amy and the Doctor's conversation, Gemma stammered her words. "I… w-what? No, I don't want to leave Leadworth, I want to go back to the school, and-"

"Ooh, yes, that's it!" The Doctor said, trying to sound gleeful despite being terrified. "Don't you see? It wants people that want to leave in some way; it thinks that'll get the ship out of here and back in flight! It let you go because you're scared, you just want to see your family again, right? But it only wants me because it thinks I can pilot it, and because clearly, _I want out_. No, no, I'm too much for this, don't you understand?" The Doctor hollered at the hologram that now stood beside the controls. "My mind is too much for this ship. My hand touches the panel, the planet doesn't blow up, the solar system does."

"But how do we stop it? What do I do?" Amy repeated forcefully.

"I don't know! We need to find a way to override it!" he yelled back at her, his hand now only a few inches from touching the orb. "It needs someone who doesn't want to leave to pilot it!"

Amy searched her mind for a way to stop what was happening, and she felt something in her mind click. He'd told her that it only wanted people that felt a need to leave, to run away from everything. Here she was, with her sister and the most impossible man she'd ever known, someone that could show her everything. There was no need for running now, and that was all she needed to know.

Without hesitation, Amy took a deep gulp of air and smacked her hand down on the orb before the Doctor could, feeling the electricity pulse around her as chaos erupted.

The power that had held Gemma to the controls had not fixed itself to Amy as she had thought it would: instead the orb trembled under her hand and Amy felt the ground of the ship itself become unstable. The lights in the room flashed violently and the controls went haywire, shooting off sparks and blinking erratically. Amy stood, fighting the desire to run and instead concentrated hard on why she did not want to leave. She kept her mind locked on what was keeping her grounded and safe. The Doctor, baffled at Amy's sudden action, hauled her by the shoulders away from the panel and spun her to face him.

"Amy, what've you done?"

"I've saved your life! 'Cause I'm not going anywhere, and you'd better remember that."

Amy realised she was still shouting as if trying to make herself heard over the din which had, by that point, ceased. Gemma watched the two of them from her place on the floor, incredulous. The Doctor, it seemed, was as puzzled as her.

"What-"

"You said the only way it could leave was if someone who didn't want to leave touched the console. And I'm done with running," Amy told him, feeling heat creep its way up the back of her neck."

"Oh, Amy! You are _brilliant_!" The Doctor exclaimed, eyes flashing with pride. Before he could say any more, smoke began to rise from around them and the forgotten hologram began to speak again, its words on loop.

"Help me, help me, help me, help me…" The image flickered between the old man, the girl, the young man and back, over and over again, picking up speed.

"Emergency shutdown, it's imploding! Everybody out! Come along, Ponds!" With that, the Doctor swooped over to stand Gemma up and with Amy running ahead of them, escaped down the staircase. The second floor began to rumble from underneath and the machinery began to rattle, creating a deafening noise that the Doctor was sure would alert the neighbours.

Nearly tumbling over the garden path on the way out of the house, Amy looked up in astonishment as the second floor of Gemma's house began to ripple in the air and disappear completely, revealing a massive silver spider-like ship. She heard Gemma gasp next to her as the three of them backed out onto the road, and before their eyes, the ship dematerialised and left no trace of it behind.

They each sank down onto the low brick wall surrounding a large park across from the house. For Amy, it was out of exhaustion from running. As far as she knew for Gemma, it was out of total shock.

As they looked at where the second floor had once been, a man strolled past with a little boy in his arms, and as far as Amy could tell, he hadn't noticed anything at all.

"Look at them! Didn't they see that?" she queried, pointing at the two of them. "The whole top floor just vanished!"

"There never _was_ a second floor, Amy, don't you see?"

Amy stared at him, her mouth slightly agape. "Uh, no, I don't, because there _was_ a second floor. We were just in it!"

Gemma, who had been largely silent, suddenly piped up. "Actually, there n-never was a second floor. That staircase always led to a closet and the attic. How could I forget that?" she cried out, confusion in her tone.

The Doctor, who had been sitting on the low brick wall across from the house, stood up suddenly and clapped his hands together. "Perception filter, and a rather strong one at that. That ship landed on the top of your house and it's been there for quite some time. So long, in fact, that you forgot there never really _was_ a second floor at all. And all the while, you've had an empty ship up there that was somehow fooling you into thinking it was paying rent! Beautifully clever, though you probably really haven't been making any extra money at all."

"_Paying rent?_" Amy repeated, completely disbelieving. "Oh, yeah, how polite, keeping up with the rent while committing and planning mass murders! Doctor, what _were_ they? The crew, I mean?"

"Dunno. But finding out is half the fun, isn't it?"

"Are you hearing this?" Amy asked her sister, speaking loudly enough for the Doctor to overhear.

Gemma was still staring at the place where the ship had been, hardly even blinking. "Mmhmm."

The Doctor then gave a loud yelp, causing Gemma and Amy, who were still jumpy from what just happened, to both give tiny screams of fright. He plunged his hand deep into the inside pocket of his jacket and revealed a small, glowing yellow key. He looked back up at the two of them, a look of childlike glee on his face.

"She's ready."

Before Amy could react, the Doctor jumped away from them, over the garden wall and back into the house, reflexes as sharp as a cat's. Huffing, Amy indicated to Gemma to follow her and she ran quickly after him.

She stopped in the front hallway, peered around and went into the front hall to find the Doctor gulping loudly from the mug he'd left there before following her upstairs.

"What're you doing?"

He gave a loud 'ahh' before setting his mug back down on the table and peeking around her to look at the ceiling. "Just finishing up my coffee. It was lovely, by the way. And look at that, Pond! No more scary old stain to worry about!"

Amy turned to look at where he was pointing above her. The ceiling was back to normal, the simple, creamy white it should be. The room seemed fine as well, despite the small table the Doctor had knocked over, and several books that had fallen off of shelves as the house had shook.

"Now," he said rather loudly, clapping his hands on Amy's shoulders, "the TARDIS is ready to go. I'll take her out for a quick spin just to get her ready, a quick trip to the moon and back should do it. You'll be at the coffee shop tomorrow?"

Amy grinned widely and nodded. She could try to play it cool all she wanted, but there was no hiding her excitement from him.

"Fantastic! No, wait, I don't say that anymore, do I? Hang on. Actually, never mind. Alright, Amy Pond, I'm leaving it up to _you_ to explain this to Gemma," the Doctor told her, turning his head to smile happily at Gemma. Still silent for the most part, she was watching the two of them with so much interest, it was a wonder she wasn't bursting out with questions. "She's just seen the top floor of her house disappear and she has a lot to ask. Better yet, she probably wants to know who I am and what I'm doing in her house."

"Doctor, I don't even understand what the hell just happened. How am I supposed to explain any of it?" Amy choked out.

Instead of answering her, the Doctor laughed and left the room. "Just re-tell her everything you've already heard me say. And when in doubt, make it up. See you later!" he called from the front hallway. Amy rushed past Gemma to get to the door, which he'd left wide open, and watched him. He walked briskly down the road and straight to the bright blue police telephone box she'd seen so often before. She'd hardly even noticed its presence when she'd come barrelling out of the house.

He pulled the key out of his pocket and opened the doors. Amy watched as he stood there for a moment, looking at what was inside, and rushed in. Within seconds, a horribly loud grating noise filled the previously silent street, and to her great shock, the TARDIS began to disappear, along with the sound it had made.

* * *

><p>Amy found it somewhat difficult to explain everything to Gemma. All it had taken was a nice cup of tea to soothe the poor woman's nerves, and once she had calmed down, the only time she stopped asking questions was to let Amy answer some of them. Amy hadn't told her anything about the Doctor when she first arrived at the house, and now had to fill her in on the story of how they had met. As far as she was concerned, it was a long story, and a confusing one at that.<p>

She spoke with great detail of how she'd shared a table with him at the coffee shop, how he had told her of aliens, spaceships and other worlds, and how she'd lost all of her doubt the second she laid eyes on the true form of Jack O'Brien. And then Amy told her sister all about the TARDIS - she didn't know a whole lot about it, but she definitely knew that it could travel in time and space, and once she'd meet up with the Doctor tomorrow afternoon, she'd see the inside.

Amy was thankful that her sister was a lot like her in nearly every aspect. She had seemed sceptical at the beginning of her tale, but Gemma appeared to be happy for her sister by the end of it. She was, after all, about to see anything in the universe she wanted. And there was, of course, no denying that the world wasn't as safe and cosy as Gemma had thought. That idea had come crashing down on the nonexistent second floor.

Later that evening, Gemma and Amy walked back to their parents' home for supper. Tabetha was still cheery and happy to see them, and Amy was glad to see that her father's mood was somewhat improved. As far as the sisters could tell, neither of their parents had noticed anything amiss at all that day, nor had they noticed that their daughters were in total opposite moods from that morning. They thought it best not to mention it to them at all.

After a big meal and a long conversation, Amy noted that it was probably a good idea for her to start heading home. Augustus had, by that point, fallen asleep and Gemma was on her way out the door as well. Mrs. Pond kindly offered to drive Amy to the train station, cutting a great deal of time out of her trip. Amy supposed that was probably the biggest upside to having protective parents: they'd never let you go anywhere on your own after dark, no matter how old you were.

Being in her flat that night was almost as daunting as the idea of where she was going tomorrow. Should she lock up her windows and door as tightly as she could when she left? After all, how long would she really be gone? Should she pack luggage?

_Guess there's not really a point_, she thought to herself and she burrowed deep into her sheets. _I can come back if I need to. The whole universe is our backyard._

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Okay, I'll be 100% honest here: I did not enjoy the finale.** **I usually tend to watch an episode about 4-5 times on the weekend it airs, but.. I think I've only watched the finale about two times. I don't know, I guess I was just expecting something... less obvious? The title itself, though: I was sure that it would have been a metaphor, but... apparently not! Anyway, tomorrow is my last day of school until Tuesday because of Thanksgiving, and I've got a four-day weekend, so don't be shocked if there's another update incredibly soon. C:**


	8. Chapter 8

As soon as Amy awoke the next morning, she began to set her plan in motion. She'd decided while half-asleep the night before that it would be a safe bet to at least pack a few things to bring with her, just in case. Yanking a messenger bag from the depths of her closet, Amy began to go around her room collecting things: her passport, her purse, any salvageable makeup, her keys, and most importantly, her mobile. She pulled it back out and turned it over in her hands, examining it and wiping the smudges from the screen. Her mobile truly was her lifeline, but was there _really_ a point in bringing it? She wasn't so sure that she could get any reception from space. Shrugging, Amy tossed it back into her bag anyway.

Locking the door to her flat behind her several minutes later, Amy hopped down the steps to the main road as she did every morning. Knowing she had a few minutes to kill before she had to be on her way, she pulled her mobile from her bag and decided to give Daisy a quick call. Amy thought that Daisy, out of everybody, would best enjoy the news of where she would be going that afternoon. Gemma had certainly been the one who had experiences the most, but Daisy had been Amy's closest friend for a long time.

After several rings, Daisy picked up cheerily, albeit with a slight groggy edge to her voice. Cringing inwardly, Amy realised that she'd likely woken Daisy up. After all, due to her unemployment, it wasn't likely she'd get up early for no reason.

"Hey. That you, Amy?"

Amy gave a tiny snicker. "Course it's me, you've got caller ID, haven't you? Anyway, guess what?"

There was a loud rustling of bedsheets from the other end of the line. "Mmhmm, what is it?"

"I - you're still in bed, aren't you? Erm, never mind. D'you remember John?" Amy asked, her Scottish accent coming through thickly in her speech.

Amy heard Daisy perk up considerably in her tone of voice. "Ooh, the tall, good-looking bloke with the floppy fringe? And the bowt-"

"Yes, yes, that's him, bowtie and everything. We're going travelling," Amy cut in.

"Hold on - travelling together? God, Amy, you certainly reeled him in quickly, didn't you?" Daisy exclaimed loudly, forcing Amy to put a wide berth between herself and the mobile for a moment.

"It's not like that! Okay, look, I have a lot of things to say so I'm going to say them all really quickly, alright? Okay," Amy told her, breathing out heavily at the end of her sentence.

"I'm listening. Go nuts."

"Okay, so, y'know how I met John at that little coffee shop I took you to once? We shared a table and he told me about… who he really is, I guess you could say. He's… he's got a ship that can travel in time and space. Then he told me he was an alien, but I didn't believe him until you left when he was in O'Brien's office on Tuesday, remember? He came flying out - literally - and O'Brien came out after him, and get this: he's an alien too! A real one! He's this massive green thing, and he actually chased us out of the building! And yesterday… oh, you're gonna _love_ this. I took the next day off to go visit Gem, and he showed up there too! Turned out that there was a giant ship on the top of her house that was burning people up, but it left, and today he's coming back to pick me up."

Amy said all of this as though it was one long, ongoing sentence. She had barely even paused to take a breath. She could barely even hear Daisy through the phone, and began to think for a moment that her friend had fallen back asleep.

"You… you kept on working there after that?" Daisy suddenly blurted out.

"That's what you got out of all of that? That I kept my job?"

"Well, come on! I don't know of many people that would do that!"

"Yeah, everyone else would've just left. Like you, for instance. I - wait, you hadn't even heard about any of that, so why'd you quit?" Amy queried. She'd mistakenly believed that Daisy had quit on account of their boss being what he was, but the more she thought about it, Amy realised that, in fact, Daisy hadn't witnessed his transformation at all.

"Cause he's mad!" Daisy screeched dramatically. "Well, on top of other things, obviously. He just goes thundering about the place, yelling at everyone and smashing things to bits. I don't need any more of that, thanks very much. I've replaced enough office supplies that I ever thought I'd need to. I was thinking of doing something new, anyway."

"That's brilliant, hon! No matter what, you're going to get it. You're a difficult one to refuse," Amy said. With a quick glance at her watch, she slung her bag over her shoulder and continued the conversation as she walked. "So, yeah, we leave as soon as I'm off work."

"I just can't believe how ridiculous it all sounds! You're going to travel time and space with an alien named John that you met in a coffee shop!"

Amy felt a pang of displeasure at how Daisy worded her summary, but knew in her heart that she was exactly right. There really was no other way of putting it, and she could not argue. She could, however, correct her on his name.

"Oh, that's where it really gets interesting," she told Daisy, fighting her way through a large horde of people at a streetcorner. "His name isn't actually John, it's 'the Doctor'. Way catchier. John's a wee bit boring for a name, anyway," Amy told Daisy joyfully.

"'_The Doctor'_? Doctor _who_?"

"Just 'the Doctor'," she repeated.

"Alright. But if he turns out to be a serial murderer, that's your problem," Daisy informed her grimly.

Amy let out a sharp, loud laugh that startled several of the people walking closest to her. "Believe me; I know what I'm doing. Anyway, I've got to go now, I'm heading underground. Let me know how the job search goes, yeah?"

"Aye aye, captain. Over and out."

Amy smiled to herself as she pulled the mobile away from her ear and threw it back into her bag. She'd definitely been right in thinking Daisy would love to know where she was going. She hadn't outright demanded she stayed back, so that was definitely a good sign.

The butterflies that seemed to have taken up a permanent residence in Amy's stomach acted up again at the thought of how close she was now. She could almost taste the freedom. Amy let her mind flow freely, trying to picture the places she could go. Realising that she could hardly even handle the events she'd endured so far, she knew she could never predict it. And she could not, however wild she let her imagination run, imagine what the inside of the Doctor's ship could look like. All she had really seen of it was an orange glow that radiated brightly out as soon as the doors were opened a sliver. The Doctor had also mentioned a swimming pool and a library - and hadn't he said something about the swimming pool being _in_ the library? Surely that couldn't be true. _Could it?_

Not to mention, of course, how both of them were going to fit into it comfortably. Amy had been in an ordinary police box before, and it had had just enough space for one person to be comfortable in it. How two people could get inside was beyond her.

She supposed she'd see soon enough.

* * *

><p>Amy was beginning to see that Mr. O'Brien definitely <em>was<em> ignoring her. Each time Amy had to use the intercom to call up to his office, his answers were short and curt, as though spend as little time associating with her as possible. She equated it to severe embarrassment, although she couldn't be perfectly sure.

She found her day to be far more dull than it usually would be. There was much less time spent communicating with O'Brien, not to mention that Daisy wasn't there to lean wearily against the side of her desk and tell her all the gossip she'd heard over the course of the day. It was simply her, answering phones and sending faxes and waiting anxiously for five o'clock to roll around.

When five o'clock _did_ roll around, Amy already had her coat on and shut her computer off at the turn of the hour. The shock of snow whipped like little pinpricks at her face as she headed down to the alleyway, but her one concern was to make sure she did not fall flat on her face. Thank god for boots with grip.

The cosy coffee shop was a glorious haven from the winter outside, and as Amy untangled herself from her coat, scarf and the like, she gazed around for the Doctor. He didn't seem to have arrived yet, but she took her seat at their table by the fire from Wednesday afternoon anyway. She decided to wait for him before ordering her drink, in case it took him a while.

Foot drumming rhythmically on the floor as she waited, Amy sat nervously in her chair, fidgeting to look at the door behind her every few seconds. She didn't know when exactly she'd become so impatient as she waited, but she did know that every second that ticked by seemed to drag on forever.

She busied herself with watching the fire in the corner. Fire really is a beautiful thing, she realised, the more you look at it. It flickers and dances around like a puppet on a string, always bright and always burning. It's dangerously graceful.

Her eyes felt heavy as she watched it, and she soon found herself welcoming a deep sleep as though it was an old friend.

* * *

><p>"Miss?"<p>

Amy stirred, her head feeling heavy as she turned to find the source of the voice. A smartly dressed, middle-aged woman stood beside her table, holding a black mobile phone in her hand and pointing it at Amy.

"Sorry to wake you, but you dropped your phone. I don't think it's damaged, so don't worry," the woman said with a smile. With that, the woman left her side and began to head for the front door of the coffee shop.

Looking around, Amy realised that the two of them were the only people left in the room, bar the couple behind the register. Shifting herself into a sitting position, she called out after the woman.

"Uh, excuse me, did a man come in here earlier?" Amy asked loudly, trying to catch the woman's attention before she left.

"A man?" she called back to Amy, her face screwed up as though trying to remember.

"Yeah. Tall guy, floppy brown hair, probably wearing a bowtie? Was he in here when I was sleeping?"

"Not that I can remember. Sorry," she told Amy as she went out the door.

_Where is he?_

Avoiding having to be told that the shop was about to close, Amy pulled her coat and bag on and left the comfortable warmth to head into the still-busy night.

She figured the Doctor must have just over-shot his co-ordinates. He'd said it himself, that flying was still a bit dodgy and he'd just have to get reacquainted with the controls. It was completely possible that he'd just messed up, and he'd be back tomorrow. Satisfied with that answer, she continued on towards her flat, brushing the flurries off of her face as she went.

* * *

><p>There was a temporary secretary at the publishing house that occasionally came in to work on weekends. Once in a while, Amy would be called in to work bright and early, but most of the time, she had her weekends free. Luckily, this was one of those times.<p>

Unfortunately, with it being a Saturday, Amy had absolutely no idea when the Doctor would make his appearance. She travelled to the corner where the coffee shop had been and the TARDIS had once stood, and made a mental reminder to stay in the vicinity. Amy decided to do a bit of shopping and looking around, something she had never previously had the time for, and then return to the coffee shop around five o'clock to wait for the Doctor.

London on a Saturday could be qualified as busy at the very least. People of all sorts bustled about: important-looking businessmen talking rather loudly on mobiles about meetings and reports, groups of shopping teenagers babbling excitedly, couples with small children that pointed at everything their eyes landed on, and many more tourists than there were during the week. It was difficult to manoeuvre around all of them, but working in London for a while had made Amy slightly more skilled at it than most.

Amy window-shopped for most of the morning, occasionally going inside to have a look around. There was such a variety of shops in the heart of London that there was no way for Amy to limit herself. There were furniture shops, full of things that Amy could neither afford, nor had room in her flat for. There were electronics shops, which had the very latest in computers and music players and were full to the brim with customers. Best of all, there were numerous shops full of clothing, and despite most of them being either horrendously overpriced or ugly, Amy had fun trying them on.

The restaurants nearby gave seemingly limitless opportunities for a meal, and Amy settled on a busy little pizzeria. She checked her watch as she ate, and seeing that she only had slightly over two hours until she was to meet the Doctor, she took her time. She wondered if this is what it would be like with him: living out the life of a tourist throughout the universe, constantly going around to shops and seeing the sights. It would definitely put gallivanting around London into perspective.

Amy made trips to several other streets before heading back to the alley later that afternoon. A few shopping bags in hand, she set off for the coffee shop and the Doctor.

She rounded the corner and saw that the TARDIS had not yet returned to its place at the front of the alley. Suspecting he'd be a few more minutes, she headed inside and, like yesterday, waited instead of ordering.

She kept her eyes on the door as she had done yesterday, and every once in a while, she became aware of someone watching her. In her peripheral vision, she saw who it was: the kind old woman that owned the shop was watching her from behind a coffee maker with a sad look in her eyes - was that _pity_? She'd probably seen her waiting aimlessly the day before.

After roughly an hour, Amy began to grow irritated. He had a bloody _time machine_, after all. He should be able to get where he needed to be whenever he liked, and clearly, he hadn't. It honestly should not be this difficult.

Instead of watching the fire and falling asleep as she had done on Friday, Amy went through her purchases, pulling tags off of clothing and scratching off price stickers. She was rather fond of one item in particular - a thick, red knitted wool scarf. It was lovely and warm, and was the perfect thing to have in the winter. She would consider it as an early Christmas gift to herself.

Seven thirty rolled around and Amy had had enough. Tossing her things into their bags and bundling back up, she stood and left. She did not turn back to look around, as she could still feel eyes watching her. She knew they pitied her, the foolish little redheaded girl who'd been stood up.

Feeling as though everything around her had momentarily stopped - the movement of bodies, the sound of traffic and the crunching of snow - she made her way to the end of the alley.

Amy stood directly in front of where the TARDIS had been. _Should_ have been. Raising a gloved hand, she touched where her hand would have met a wooden door, but instead, she lurched forwards slightly and her hand grazed a brick wall.

"Oh, Doctor," Amy whispered, her voice barely audible even to herself. "You promised."

Amy began to feel something blossom inside her very heart; something that felt so alien and yet, so familiar. It had often been said in the films she'd watched and the novels she'd read that when one is let down so terribly, an awful sadness moves into the place hope has left. But this was not a sadness she felt. No, this was something altogether different.

Even in her own mind, Amy struggled to comprehend it. It later took many hours of blank staring to realise what the feeling was: disappointment. It was harsh, crushing and wholly painful. Amy had many memories of when she had been a young girl: many times she had been denied a second sweet, or was made to wait for something. She could still remember the feeling of her own impatience. But of course, she nearly always got what she'd begged for.

She also thought of that age-old, seemingly harmless trick often played on a pet, where a string would be repeatedly dangled in front of its face, and then taken away once the pet's claws got too close to it. This man - this wonderful, ridiculous man - had entered right into her life, offered her hopes, dreams and impossible things on a string. Amy Pond was not easily swayed, but soon found herself reaching out for those things, inching ever closer with each passing day. The universe itself was dangled in front of her eyes, but just as soon as that string appeared, it was gone. Amy was left now with her fingers outstretched, reaching for the life she would not be able to have. The one that had left her days ago in the blue police box.

Amy drew the curtains closed, blocking out the majority of the orange light from the sunset that streamed into her bedroom. With a slight bow of her head, red curls tumbled in front of her view and lightly fell around her cheeks. They were soft, almost like the comforting caress of a warm hand. Somehow, the idea made her feel worse.

She had not even bothered with her usual coffee that evening. She watched several reruns of long-since ended sitcoms on television half-heartedly, and just before ten o'clock, pulled on her nightie and clambered into her neatly made bed.

The sheets were pulled up tightly around her and she closed her eyes, burrowing into them for the warmth she could not find. She could not remember her sheets ever being this cold.

It had already begun to settle inside her, and it felt as heavy as a rock. Amy heaved out a sigh and rolled onto her back. Thin slivers of lights from outside her window streaked dimly through, illuminating the cracks and creases on her ceiling. She explored every inch of them with her eyes, but no matter how late she stayed awake or what she forced herself to look at, Amy could not escape her own mind.

She wanted to hate him. Every cell in her body, every aching nerve, every part of her longed to detest the thought of the Doctor. Her mind told her it was wrong, all this disappointment and anguish. She should, in all reality, not have chosen so rashly and hated the outcome when she was let down. Her heart, on the other hand, whispered other things. She could not bring herself to hate that impossible man. She knew then, deep down, that she would wait. She would always wait, if that's what it would take. If it would, in time, bring him back to her, so be it.

Amy Pond. The girl who waited.

Amy feared that she would grow bitter about it with time, and she sincerely hoped that she wouldn't. She did not hate the Doctor for what he'd done: no, this was a lingering, strong disbelief. _I really thought he'd be different_, she mused. _He really would have brought me the stars if I'd asked him too._

Giving in to her eyes and closing them ceased the stinging, and soon, Amy found herself drifting into an uncomfortable sleep. She later recalled that she hadn't slept soundly that evening, nor had she dreamt at all. Even if she had done, she could not even remember it - hardly interesting.

The hours Amy spent curled in the sheets of her bed passed with ease; as did the hours of each evening for the rest of the week.

Hours turned to days, which eased into weeks, which in turn became a month. Time passed, as it always should, and Amy Pond lived her life. She did not waste her life away with should-have-dones and could-have-beens - instead, she learned to grow from them. She rose in the morning and retired at night. She answered the phones and was always given a wide berth between herself and O'Brien. She took the Underground every day and with time, that too became more bearable. She visited Leadworth more often and met with Daisy on weekends to hear about her new job. Amy Pond did all of these things to distract herself from the Doctor, but she was always reminded of him. Sometimes it was through a word someone said, or a phrase that was used. Sometimes it was the clothing of a stranger on the street. He was, in a way, always there.

She visited the coffee shop every day, as she always did, and always sat at a table for two.

Just in case.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Plot twists ahoy! Don't hate me for this one. ;)  
>As always, reviews are <em>greatly<em> appreciated, so thank you for each and every one of them! The next chapter is on its way, and reviews are quite motivational... ;D**


	9. Chapter 9

For what felt like ages, Amy was unsure of herself. Part of her wanted desperately to believe that he would come back, yet the other part of her mind told her she was delusional. Stupid, even. He was gone and that was that. Part of her said it could have been a mistake; something could have happened to him. But couldn't he just as easily have been leading her on all along? Was this somehow her fault?

Amy had spent several years building up walls. She had always thought the best defence against disappointment was simply evasion: show the world you're made of stone and they'll leave you as you are. Amy had finally let someone in, and she certainly had nothing good to show for it. She knew that she had made mistakes in her life - that much was obvious. How many people had she pushed away as she stayed an introvert? How many had simply avoided her altogether? It had come to the point that she didn't know who she truly was anymore - was she still truly kindhearted and caring underneath her mask? The protection she had created for herself as her juvenile way of 'growing up' had really done the opposite in the long run.

Maybe that was it. Maybe Amy had reached the point where she was simply unbearable and that was why she was still here on Earth. Too standoffish, perhaps, and the Doctor had been too kind to say so.

Whatever the reason, Amy knew that she was going to have to pull herself out of her period of self-loathing eventually. Making the changes and moving on was simply the best course of action. It would be better for everyone.

Amy had a more social Christmas that year. Two weeks before, she had gone shopping with Daisy to buy the rest of her last-minute gifts and the trip cleared her mind completely. Amy pushed all of her worries and stresses to the back of her brain and was able to let the holiday spirit truly wash over her. She found that it was really quite difficult to be in a horrid mood when buying tinsel and fairy lights for her flat, especially with the shops themselves all in the Christmas spirit. By that point, the snowy weather was in full force, nipping at the ears, noses and fingertips of anyone that dared to not bundle themselves in multiple layers of clothing.

Amy did up her flat in proper decorations for the first time ever that week. She already owned a Christmas tree (albeit a tiny one no taller than her torso), so everything that came after that was a no-brainer. Tinsel not only decorated nearly all available branches, but it also adorned the tops of Amy's bookshelves and the bottom of her windowsills. And as a finishing touch, Amy hung a small wreath on her front door. She sent out her yearly Christmas cards and she received mail of her own, full of words of well-wishing and cheerful family photos. Christmas music played around her constantly, and the merriment it brought with it began to fill what remained of the void inside her.

Apart from her flat, Amy decorated the front hall of the publishing house as well. The areas around her desk were merry and inviting, a harsh contrast to the sleek and intimidating expanse of white that was the rest of the building. However, none of the other employees seemed to mind, as they told Amy whenever they passed by her desk. As far as she could tell, it was only the senior members of staff that had any sort of aversion to the less professional look of the place.

After her usual stay at the coffee shop (which she now often spent reading and dozing by the fire), Amy went for a walk on Christmas eve. She would have normally been annoyed at the bustle on the streets of _extremely_ last-minute Christmas shoppers, but everyone seemed to still be in good spirits. Christmas cheer was, after all, contagious.

Her walk became more peaceful as she took a long way home and went through a park. It was late at night, and as far as Amy could see, she was the only one in the park. The air was silent and the flurries floated past her face as she strolled, looking at the snow-capped scenery around her through the orange glow of the streetlamps. Deciding that she should probably begin heading home, Amy pulled out her mobile from her coat pocket to check the time. The empty black screen flickered to life and revealed the wallpaper of her phone - the photo she'd taken of the TARDIS all that time ago.

Amy felt a pang of nostalgia in her heart as she went home.

She had burrowed herself into a bundle on the couch in front of the telly with several blankets and a mug of hot chocolate when Daisy called her on her mobile. Over the past few weeks, they're begun the habit of calling one another whenever they simply had nothing to do and barely anything to talk about, which was often. Daisy greeted her cheerily but had a somewhat drowsy tone to her voice, as though she was mere seconds from falling asleep.

"Hey, Amy. You watching Frosty? It's on now. Dunno what channel, I don't want to check."

"Yeah, I've got it on. He's got a nice hat, have you ever noticed?"

"Mmm. What're you doing tomorrow?" Daisy asked, voice slightly muffled.

"Going to Gem's, probably. Maybe mum and dad's. Could pop 'round to Rory's place, too, if he's in," Amy mumbled back between sips of hot chocolate.

"D'you think you'll see him?"

Amy felt a familiar weight in the pit of her stomach at Daisy's words. Both of them knew she wasn't really talking about Rory. It had been nearly a month since she had seen the Doctor, and though she had tried to put the thought of him to the back of her mind, he remained there. And part of her knew that he always would.

"I… I don't know. I don't know. It's been a month, Daisy. He's not coming back," she whispered into the phone. She was barely even conscious of her own thoughts; the words seemed to come involuntarily from her mouth.

"You don't know that," Daisy countered immediately. "You don't know that, Amy. Remember that day you were leaving? You called me and you were _so_ sure. You're never like that unless it really means something."

"Then why hasn't he been back _yet_, then, eh? I'll tell you, if he does come back, it's a Christmas miracle, Daisy. A Christmas miracle."

Amy watched the characters dancing across her television screen with heavy, half-lidded eyes, hardly even realising when Daisy did not give an answer back. She was half-asleep when the clock on her wall went off, signalling it was eleven o'clock, startling her fully awake. Aware that she still had the phone in her hand, Amy put the mobile back up to her ear.

"Sorry, I nodded off for a second. You there?"

The only response she received was the static of silence and the very faint sound of quiet breathing on the other end of the line. Amy smiled, though her friend could not see her.

"Merry Christmas, Daisy," she murmured into the silence.

Amy turned off her mobile and stayed on the couch until the film ended, when she promptly turned off the television and locked up her flat, still wrapping her blankets around her. Once her door was shut, her lights were off and her mug was in the sink, she ambled to her room and curled up at the foot of her bed.

She thought for a moment about what she would do the next day. It would definitely be best to visit her mum and dad first, instead of barging in on Gemma, Ethan and Alfie. Her mum and dad were, after all, alone on Christmas day, and hopefully her father would be in a far better mood as well. And maybe, after all this time, it would finally be the right time for Amy to tell her parents what happened on that dreary November morning.

Her sheets seeming to invite her with open, welcoming arms, Amy slipped into her bed and turned off the lights. As she laid there, she tried to remember what it had been like, all those years ago, to lie in bed each Christmas eve and dream of the presents that would inevitably be waiting for her when she awoke. If she tried hard enough, she could just barely remember the excitement that would keep her younger self awake for hours on end before she would finally drift off into a dreamless sleep.

Current Amelia Pond followed suit.

* * *

><p>She had that dream again.<p>

Amy had been having the same dream over and over again for quite some time. It was a familiar scene and place, but the images seemed faded at the edges, as though she was looking at old photographs. She was back at Gemma's house with the Doctor, but this time he was leading her with him to the TARDIS. Each and every time, he would go through the doors and she would be within inches of looking in and being inside the ship herself, but the doors would slam shut in her face. Wind would always pick up and that loud grating noise would fill the air as the TARDIS dematerialised, leaving her heartbroken in its wake. The sound of the TARDIS seemed louder than it ever had before, as though even her subconscious was trying to rub it in.

Amy was just about to turn over onto her side when she heard the smash of glass from somewhere far off in the flat.

The adrenaline that began to pump in her veins mixed with her fear and nearly consumed her, freezing her in her place in bed for a brief moment. By then, the noise had stopped, but Amy was more than aware that she hadn't left out anything that would have broken on its own. Careful to be as silent as she could, Amy wriggled her way out of her cocoon of blankets and tiptoed to the corner of her bedroom. Reaching a hesitant arm behind a set of drawers, Amy brought forth a dusty, aged cricket bat. She had used the same bat as a child, and it had been dumped in her belongings when she'd moved to London. Luckily, she'd never gotten around to tossing it in the bin.

Grasping it in her fist, Amy ghosted across the floor and out into the hallway, barely even hearing the sound of her own blood pumping in her veins as another bang resonated through the flat. Amy flattened herself against the wall as she shuffled silently around the corner and beside the doorframe leading to the kitchen, where she now heard the noises at their loudest. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, realising what she was about to do.

Tightening her grip on the cricket bat, Amy held it up in the air in a batter's stance, and letting her legs move where they needed to, bolted into the kitchen.

Just by the sink stood a figure in the shadows. Amy let out a deafening scream and swung out her bat at the figure, but the bat simply whooshed through the air without striking anything. The intruder had ducked with a yelp and rolled out of the way of Amy's aim, standing up with amazing speed.

"Amy! Amy!" the figure called out, causing Amy to cease her poorly aimed blows.

Amy's eyes widened in shock - she would know that voice anywhere. Her grip slackened and the cricket bat slammed to the floor, sending a clatter around the kitchen.

It couldn't be him.

"Glad to know that I got the right flat! And why do you have a cricket bat anyway, Pond? Didn't think you were the cricket-playing sort," he told her, brushing off the knees of his trousers.

"I… it's from school," she whispered, her voice barely coming out at all. She continued to bug her eyes out at him and did not dare to move, in fear that she would awaken from her dream. This had to be a dream, but she knew that this was far too real for that.

"So," he called out, pointing at her with both hands, "I figured that you probably couldn't wait until tomorrow, so here I am! The TARDIS is all done and everything. One quick trip to the moon and back was just what she needed. So, coming?"

"Doctor-"

"Oh, of course, you want to pack or something, don't you? Always packing for trips, you humans. It must get awfully boring planning ahead for everything. But go on, I'll wait here," he exclaimed, as though he'd had to put up with that before.

Puzzled when she did not immediately run off to her bedroom, the Doctor continued to look at her. There was something off about her. Her shoulders were slumped, as though this was traumatising to her. And her face, the one usually full of life, was pale and drawn as she watched him. It was then that she noticed the slight shadows around her eyes that come from a lack of sleep.

The Doctor watched Amy as she sucked in a breath, looked down at her trembling fingers and forced out, "If it was something I did, I'm sorry."

"You- wait, what?"

"…why did you leave, Doctor? Because you promised. You promised me," Amy choked out.

The Doctor squinted his eyes at Amy and replied with, "Of course I promised you, Amy. That's why I'm here! And I _told_ you why I left, what are you talking about?"

Becoming steadily frustrated that the Doctor wasn't understanding her, Amy began to raise her voice slightly. "I'm talking about how you _left_ me. Do you know what day it is? Because it's been a month, Doctor. A _month._"

Amy felt a sickening sense of satisfaction at watching the Doctor's face fall. His expression, previously jovial, now appeared pained and regretful.

"It's… it's been a month? It must have been because the engines were still phasing and I went a bit too far… oh, Amy," the Doctor moaned, moving to stand closer to her.

It was then that she truly knew. His disappearance really had been a mistake, an idea she'd toyed with in her mind. The part of her that had desperately desired to hate the Doctor for what he'd done, the same part that had enjoyed how suddenly his mood had changed, made her feel sick with guilt.

"Come with me," the Doctor uttered simply. His face was now inches from hers, something he did when he was being deathly serious.

"No," Amy heard herself say immediately.

He locked eyes with her and refused to break his gaze, crossing his arms defiantly. "You wanted to come with me in November."

"Yeah, well that was November, wasn't it?" Amy whispered, eyes beginning to burn with the threat of oncoming tears. "You didn't come back and I… I have to be different, because I'm just pushing everyone away, aren't I? Everyone leaves and it's all my fault. And it's not you, that's not what I'm saying. I just… "

Moving his hands gently to either side of Amy's face, the Doctor tilted her head up to face him. "Amelia Pond, the girl who waited. You've waited long enough. Your time is now."

Screwing her face up to hold back her emotions, Amy shook her head. A single tear escaped her eye, ran down her cheek and fell onto the Doctor's hand, leaving a shock of cold on his skin. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Amy wanted a cold, hard answer, but she already knew it. This was the Doctor's version of an apology.

He let a beat of silence pass between them. The Doctor thought, his conscience heavy with what he had done, and Amy watched the man who had torn apart her dreams soften under her teary glare. His thumb graced over her cheek and he gave a small sigh under his breath. "One trip. Just one trip, Amy, that's all I'm asking. I betrayed your trust, and I'm sorry. One trip, eh? I'll take you home after that."

With her head still in his hands, she stood and truly thought. She could both emotionally and physically detach herself from him if she fancied, but there would always be that nagging thought in the back of her mind of what could have been. And now, as he offered her one, singular trip, she decided that she would not have to let her mind wander any longer. And she never would again.

There it was. The first smile she'd given to him in what felt like forever. "Okay."

The Doctor suddenly moved his hands to circle around her waist, and he pulled her into a warm hug. She felt him burrow his head into her hair, and she did the same, tightening her hold around his neck. There were so many things she could have said, but at the same time, the embrace said it all.

He was the first to break away, and when he did, his hands returned to either side of her face. Without breaking their eye contact, the Doctor raised one hand, held it above him in the air and snapped his fingers. A tiny creaking noise came from behind them and Amy was the first to look away. The blue doors of the TARDIS, the ones that he had never properly seen through before, were open wide an inviting her in.

Amy peered over the Doctor's shoulder and her eyes widened in surprise at the warm orange glow that emanated from the box before her. She gave a breathy, shocked little laugh and looked sideways at the Doctor. With hesitant footsteps she tiptoed her way inside, her nightie brushing gently against the doorframe.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Bit of a shorter chapter this time around, sorry about that! I don't know if the next one will be much longer, but it's nearly done and will be uploaded soon! And by the way, thank you all so much for the lovely reviews - I had quite the influx of messages after posting chapter 8! x**


	10. Chapter 10

For the first few moments after Amy stepped into the security of the TARDIS and out of the familiarity of her own flat, she didn't say a word. There was simply too much to take in. Amy wondered, for a brief moment, if the Doctor hadn't really landed in her kitchen at all. Maybe this was all just a lovely new dream that her mind had conjured up.

It was impossible. All of it; it was absolutely impossible.

The orange light that Amy had seen so often before seemed to come from everywhere inside the TARDIS - every bit of ceiling, from the floor, from the walls, and at certain angles, from the console itself. It bathed everything in its glow and gave the whole room a warm and inviting feel. However, the orange tinge to the lighting inside was not what came as a shock to Amy. If anything, that was the most understandable thing about the inside of the police box.

Seeing the TARDIS from the outside led Amy to believe that it was just as large inside as it appeared outside. However, it was far, far larger than that. She could equate the size inside to being roughly the same as all of the rooms in her flat combined - and that was just from what she could see. There was a large area of empty space that led to several steep staircases, all of which reached up to a glass floor on which a circular control panel was sat. There were shapes cut out of the walls, but whether or not they were for a purpose or were there as a design, she was not sure.

"It's bigger on the inside," Amy breathed out, hardly daring to believe her eyes. She was aware of the Doctor's presence behind her, and she knew he could hear her. "Like that ship on Gemma's top floor. _It__'__s__ bigger __on__ the __inside!_"

"Yes Miss Pond, it certainly is," he called out from the doorframe. Shutting the open doors with a click, he hurried to stand beside her. "Too much to take in? Any passing remarks? 'Cause I've heard them all, believe me."

"No, it's… just… it's beautiful. Kinda freaky at first, not really something I'm used to, but… it's beautiful. There's a whole world in here."

The Doctor strode past her and leapt up the nearest flight of stairs to the glass floor around the console. "Of sorts," he called over his shoulder, "It's more so another dimension, really." He then turned to face Amy, and began to speak rapidly whilst waving his hands about. "Think of a box, but another box within _that_ box, and you- no, actually, forget the box. Yeah, it's another world."

Amy laughed despite her initial shock and went slowly up the staircase to follow him. The ground beneath her was solid, but felt so strange underneath her slippers. So… _alien_. She wanted to ask him so many things, and wanted to look at everything, but she'd get around to it eventually. There were more pressing matters at hand.

"Alright, never mind the boxes and the dimensions and all that stuff for a sec. How exactly do you know where I live, mister?" Amy demanded, an eyebrow raised and a hand on her hip. "'Cause it's not like I wake up all the time in the middle of the night to find strangers lurking about in my kitchen. It's a wee bit stalker-ish, you know."

"Maybe it was the TARDIS, Pond," the Doctor offered cryptically. "Maybe she just missed you or something. Or maybe I overshot the coordinates to the coffee shop by a smidgen and then lied because I didn't want to admit it."

Amy gave a snort and then turned to look down at the blinking lights and whirrs of the machinery around her. This was far more complex than the empty ship she'd been in nearly a month before, but at the same time, it seemed far more ridiculous. There were things that looked like they definitely belonged there, like numbered dials and keypads, but at the same time, the console had its oddities. She could see a large red button with a yellow one of the same size beside it, faintly marked 'ketchup' and 'mustard'. Amy could also, from her angle, see the side of a typewriter to her left.

She squeaked with shock as a particularly loud bell-like noise came from a tiny hole near a dial in front of her, and with a _ping_, a long pen-like object came shooting out - a brand-new sonic screwdriver. This one was far different from the old one - it had a green tip at the end, a rather bronze hue to it, and shining silver clamps near the green tip. It looked utterly mad, but Amy thought it suited the Doctor perfectly.

"Ah, lovely!" the Doctor cried out excitedly, "I needed a new one of those. Thanks, dear," he added quietly, patting the giant glass cylinder that led up to the ceiling. The machine seemed to give a loud, comforting whirr in response, as though it was her way of communicating. The ship really _was_ alive.

"Why d'you need a new sonic?" Amy asked, peering across the console to look at the object in his hands. "You've got that sliver one with the blue bit on the end, don't you? That one works fine. "

"No, that was all but burnt up after the incident at your sister's place. You must not have seen properly; it was right after you touched those controls. I was holding it and it just went," the Doctor said, flapping his arms and making a strange noise to finish his sentence. He seemed oblivious to the look Amy was shooting him. "Too busy hauling the elder Pond off of the floor, I suppose."

Not even bothering to ask what that little bit of theatrics had been, Amy changed the subject to talk about her sister instead. "Her name's not Pond anymore, Doctor. She got married, so she's Williams now. She married my mate Rory's brother. Kind of a boring name, though. I'd keep Pond if I were her."

"And rightly so. Amy Pond is a great name. Amelia Pond… like a name in a fairytale," the Doctor informed her joyfully, tapping her nose with his finger. Amy felt a blush creep its way up her neck, so she gave a rather loud, unnecessary cough and turned away for a brief moment.

"Okay, so, what have you got in this thing? This whole bit 'round here," Amy said, spinning around in a circle to gesture at the room they were in, the bottoms of her slippers squeaking against the glass. "It's obviously bigger, yeah? So what've you got in the other rooms? Those staircases have got to lead somewhere. Though, fake staircases, I wouldn't put that past you."

"Well, I've got all sorts of things in here. Lots of bedrooms, obviously, so anyone can stay if they like. The TARDIS always saves bedrooms, so no matter how long someone leaves for, their room stays just the way they left it. I think I've got a tennis court somewhere. There's a massive wardrobe up that staircase -"

"A month ago," Amy suddenly cut in, "you said there was a swimming pool and a library, and the swimming pool was _in_ the library."

"Yeah. I also told you that I didn't know where that was. Still not sure where it's got to. It'll turn up. So," he yelped as he flipped a rapidly-flashing lever, "coming?"

"Where?"

"Wherever you like."

Amy huffed and gave a tiny laugh at the idea, resting her arms on the console. She was careful to avoid accidentally pressing or nudging anything. For all she knew, she could end up killing the both of them with one false move.

"You are _so_ sure I'm coming," she noted, shaking her head in disbelief. "Why is that?"

"Because, Amelia Pond, you're the Scottish girl in London, England. And I know how that feels. You haven't lived in Scotland for a while but you've still got that accent. Yeah, you're coming," the Doctor said matter-of-factly.

"Are you trying to say that you think I'm running away? Because I'm not. I don't have anything to run from. I've got friends, I've got my family, and my job is fine. Well, as fine as it's going to get. I'm not running."

"I'm saying that you're a fish out of water, Amy. You're not running, you're just trapped. And I'm letting you out."

Before she made any more arguments, Amy made the mistake of looking down at her feet. Noticing her slippers and trailing her eyes up to see what she was wearing, she gave a tiny gasp and wrapped her robe tightly around her.

"I'm in my nightie!"

"Oh, don't worry, we've got plenty of clothes in the TARDIS wardrobe, anything you could possibly think of and more. And possibly a swimming pool… so! All of time and space. Everything that ever happened or ever will. Where do you want to start?"

He leaned casually on the side of the console to watch her face, tapping his new sonic screwdriver against his chest as he waited.

"This is really happening… you know, for a while there, I thought… well, I started to think that maybe you were just a madman with a box."

"Amy Pond."

She turned to meet his eyes and find the source of his voice. He was closer to her now, staring at her intently with a bemused look in his eyes.

"There's something you'd better understand. It's important, and one day your life may depend on it. I am _definitely_ a madman with a box."

Both Amy and the Doctor laughed at the same time, and the Doctor moved quickly to the other side of the console to press a number of buttons. "Alright, Pond," he called over to her. "where to? Think of something original. There's nothing to see at the beginning of the world, and the end of the world… well, we wouldn't want to be anywhere on Earth, let's put it that way. Any planets? Any specific dates you fancy?"

"_Weeeell_… I get the space bit, yeah. I know this is a spaceship and everything, I totally believe that, with this other-dimensional, box-inside-another-box thing. Space is definitely true. I want to see something in time, you know? Something that you totally couldn't fake by just taking me to somewhere completely deserted. Like, someone famous from the past, or something?" Amy asked, biting her lip as she thought.

"Historical figures! Lovely! Alright, anyone in particular?"

"Uh… no," Amy blurted out, scrunching up her face.

"Oh, you're no fun. Can't think of anyone? Oh, come on, Pond! Charles Dickens, William Shakespeare, Agatha Christie, Leonardo da Vinci, Mohandas Ghandi, Marie Antoinette… wait, I've already met most of them, so getting the timing right'll be a bit tricky. Can't interfere with your own timestream, Amy, too risky. Remember that. I'd cause a massive paradox, and… well, it's not pretty, I'll leave it at that."

"You choose. Come on, you can probably think of one I'd like, if you've met most of th-"

Amy was cut off as the Doctor made a loud sound of realization, clapped his hands together and slid to another part of the console. He whooped with glee and a thunderous noise echoed around the room, like a loud bass note that made Amy's stomach lurch. The room around them suddenly gave a violent shake and the Doctor grabbed hold of the console for dear life, the smile never leaving his face. Amy, on the other hand, gave a tiny shriek as she toppled backwards, legs kicking up.

The Doctor laughed as Amy pulled herself up, gasping, and gripped the nearest handle on the console with as much strength as she could muster up. Her fiery hair fell in messy tangles in front of her face and she flipped her head to get them out of her vision, needing as much concentration as possible to stay upright.

"Pond! Wibbly lever!"

Amy gave another cry as the room shook again, and once she steadied herself again, she yelled out, "What?"

"Wibbly lever! Thin and silver with a black bit on the top, right in front of you! Pull it as far as you can!"

Finding it quickly and breathing out heavily, Amy pulled the wibbly lever down as hard as she could, and as she did, the TARDIS began its flight. She heard that same horrible scraping noise of the engines that she had heard in Leadworth and minutes before back in her London flat, and shaking began to even itself out.

The Doctor gave an exuberant cheer as he peered over to find Amy. "Goodbye, London! Next stop…"

He paused dramatically, and at the perfect moment. The sound of the engines ceased and the room finally stood still. Slightly dizzy from the violent movements, Amy stumbled backwards and fell into one of the squashy jumpseats near the console. Squinting her eyes closed to let the dizziness pass, she did not see the Doctor make his way over to her, but she certainly felt his hand grasp her own.

She opened her eyes to see him looking happily down at her, and he gave her hand a tight squeeze.

"Everywhere."

"Where are we?" Amy asked groggily, giving her head a small shake to clear it.

"Oh, sorry about all the shaking. She tends to do that, the old girl." A loud whirr filled the silence and the Doctor flapped his hand dismissively. "Yes, yes, I know you don't like me calling you that. Anyway, Amy. Ready for what's out there?"

She turned quickly to see the TARDIS doors, which were as still tightly shut as the Doctor had left them. Amy turned back to him with a smile. "Yeah."

"Beginning to rethink the whole 'just one trip' thing, Pond?"

"Shut up, I'm thinking about it," Amy shot back quickly, not missing a beat.

She had been so sure that she was only going to take one trip with him before she had stepped onboard the TARDIS. The Doctor knew how much having her wait had hurt Amy, and had offered her one trip as his version of an apology, but would that really be it for her? The true nature of the TARDIS had greatly shocked her… could she really give this all up so easily? Amy Pond had definitely waited, but then again, she _had_ been given time and space as compensation.

Amy went hesitantly down the steps, the heels of her slippers clicking slightly against the glass. It hardly even occurred to her now that she was still in her nightie, despite her shocked outburst moments before.

She scampered to the door and held her hand on the lock, fidgeting her fingers slightly. Amy looked over her shoulder at the Doctor, who she knew was directly behind her and winked cheekily at him. "Mind telling me what's out there before I go sticking my head out?"

"Open the door and see," the Doctor told her.

"If I get shot, it's your bloody fault."

With a small click of the lock and a tiny nudge of the door with her outstretched hand, Amy opened the door and ventured out into the unknown.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Finally! The moment most of you have been waiting for. ;)  
>This chapter is really quite short, I'm afraid. I could only put so many long-winded descriptions before I ran out of things to say. But believe me, every chapter from now on will DEFINITELY not be short.<br>And thank you all for the lovely reviews, by the way! I've still got a few to reply to, but thank you, all the same. C:  
><strong>


	11. Chapter 11

A strange sound broke through the calm of the Petit Trianon; a sourceless sound that brought with it a gust of wind that ruffled dainty bedsheets and tossed curtains aside. Like magic, a blue English police box appeared in the corner of a beautiful white bedroom with bright bursts of pink. The brilliant shade of the mysterious box contrasted sharply against the wall - even more so when a redheaded woman poked her head out of its doors.

"Oh my god," the woman breathed out, mouth agape and eyes wide. "This is -oi!"

She gave an indignant cry and stumbled forwards into the room as though shoved from behind. A young-looking man strode out of the box behind her, his hair flopping as he moved. His eyes sparkled, alive with wonder and excitement. He walked as though he belonged in the room, despite his obviously out-of-place attire - he wore a jacket of light brown tweed, heavy boots and, most curious of all, a blue bowtie.

"Alright Pond, know where we are? Oh, you'll_ love_ this. Go on, have a guess!"

"Erm… well, this has to be the past, yeah? This all looks sort of… royal, but it's not English, I can sort of feel it, you know? It's… oh my god. This looks French. Are we in _France_? I've never been to France. Sorry, am I babbling? Let me know when I am."

The Doctor grinned at her, his smile growing wider as he gestured around the room. "A little bit, yeah. Anyway, this is France, 1785. This looks like," he told her, stretching around to peer around the room, "the bedroom of Marie Antoinette."

Amy, who had been tiptoeing cautiously across the floor, suddenly froze in her place and whirled to face the Doctor, a blur of red hair and a nightie. Her eyes were wide and disbelieving, her mouth a taut line.

"…what?"

"I said we're in Marie's bedroom. I'm really starting to think I land in people's homes too much," he confessed, scratching at his chin. "And bedrooms are starting to get a bit awkward."

"Ooh, do tell," Amy countered, winking cheekily at him as she continued moving again. "You end up in bedrooms a lot, do you?"

"Shut up, it's not like that!" the Doctor hissed back at her. "Clearly she's not in here now, so that's sort of good news, isn't it? No explaining why there's a blue police box in the room. It's getting trickier coming up with new excuses."

"I suppose that would have been hard to explain. Hell, I'm not even sure I get it yet," she whispered into the air. Amy went quiet as she studied the room around her. Overcome with the shock of the impossibility of her location, she could do nothing but gawp at it.

The bedroom, although decorated for a queen, was rather small and simple. Most of the room, both walls and furniture, were a plain white, but several pieces of furniture were also dainty shades of pink. Flowery patterns covered seats of chairs and bedding, making the room feel airy and free. Amy knew that if she hadn't subconsciously compared her recent life to a fairytale, she certainly could now.

It was a silly thing to be hung up over, but Amy couldn't get over how amazing the furniture was - it was so regal and delicate, it was almost otherworldly. The whole room had so much character to it that Amy felt as though she could gain an accurate idea of what the queen was like if she stayed there long enough. It was so girlish, but yet very adult and mature, making Amy wonder what stage of Marie's life they had interrupted.

"Does Marie have kids in 1785?"

The Doctor nodded, startling Amy. She'd barely even noticed that he was beside her. "She's got… oh! She's got a daughter, Marie, and two sons, both named Louis. Well, two depending on what month it is. I don't really know what month it is. Let's say it's June. I like June. She has two sons," he told her, speaking his last sentence firmly.

Amy could only laugh as she went over to the bed, eying the canopy above it with admiration.

"I wanted one of those when I was a girl," Amy mumbled to the Doctor, pointing to the beautiful piece of fabric. He eyed her with great interest, as though what she was telling him was the most important thing in the universe. "I wanted to feel like a wee prin-"

A small tapping noise came from the other side of the room, from the area near the doors. Amy whirled around and her heart leapt into her throat. Here she was, hundreds of years out of her time and about to get caught sneaking around the queen's private property. She was certainly in for it.

"Hide!" the Doctor hissed urgently into her ear, grabbing Amy sharply by the arm and ducking to the floor, cutting her off before she could finish her story. With alarming speed, he crawled underneath the bed and dragged Amy awkwardly along with him, despite her best efforts to swat his hand away and move on her own.

Luckily for the both of them, there was a fair bit of room underneath the bed - just enough for Amy to move her hair away from her face to get a better look. The ornate bedroom doors opened slowly, and before their eyes, a small girl shuffled into the room and ran over to the fireplace. She was a small girl, around seven or eight years old, and she wore a vibrant turquoise dress that was covered in frilly, dangling bows and bits of lace. Her hair was long and blonde, falling in soft curls around her round face. The little girl bent down and picked up a tiny doll and a small bit of a blanket from the tile by the fireplace, and without so much as a look in Amy and the Doctor's direction, she rushed out of the room, pulling the doors closed with her.

The Doctor took a sideways glance at Amy, and nearly laughed aloud at the look on her face. Her eyes were bugged out to the point of being comical, and her mouth was opening and closing every few seconds, making her look almost like a fish.

Waiting a brief moment to make sure that the little girl wouldn't be coming back into the room, Amy dragged herself out from under the bed as gracefully as she could, staring at the doors as she balanced herself.

"Doctor, w-who was that? Was that Marie's daughter?" Amy asked with a stutter. Amy knew where she was (and she knew _when_ she was), but this was the first person from this time that she'd seen so far. And she'd thought that the bedroom itself was a shock.

"Marie Thérèse herself, Pond. A real-life royal, is that a first?" the Doctor asked her happily, crawling along the wooden floor and out of their hiding place. He straightened his jacket, dusted it off and adjusted his bowtie before turning to look at his companion again. His eyes still shone as he watched her, clearly proud of her ability to emotionally and mentally handle the change in location. He had to give her credit - English secretaries don't often get whisked off to a France centuries previous in the middle of the night. Not without having a bit of a mental breakdown, anyway.

He did a bow-legged little strut towards the door and spun dramatically on the spot. "Shall we?" he asked, his thumb gesturing out towards the hallway.

"Doctor, I'm still in my nightie," Amy replied hesitantly as she looked down at herself, biting her lip and cringing slightly. "I mean, I'm probably supposed to be in a dress or a gown or something, but there's no way I'm wearing this."

"We can come back to the TARDIS, if you like. Or you could nick a dress or something."

Amy laughed. "You just want to look around, don't you? God, you're nine years old and you don't even know it."

"I'll have you know I'm far older than that, miss twenty-something. If anyone here's the nine year old, it's you!"

Amy took her place next to him and nudged him out of the way with her elbow. Easing her fingers slowly around a golden handle, Amy placed her free hand flat against the door and slowly creaked it open. She was careful to be as silent as possible, to avoid drawing attention to the both of them as they snooped around. Giving a cheeky smile to the Doctor, she peeked out and darted into the hallway.

Her slippers only made a very faint shuffling noise against the wooden floors. She'd imagined the floors of castles to be aged and creaking, giving a clear indication of their age. It was odd to her that these floors were still relatively new and didn't make a sound.

The Doctor followed behind her as she twirled slowly around. "Where exactly are we, anyway? I don't think you said."

"Versailles, but specifically, _le__ Petit__ Trianon_. It was originally built for Madame de Pompadour," the Doctor proclaimed, his attempt at a French accent causing Amy to give a tiny snort. The Doctor, however, seemed to ignore that and had a slight faraway look in his eyes, accompanied with a little smirk. "It's a little getaway on the grounds where the queen could relax a little. She's not that much older than you, actually, but she's got a whole country to run."

"Jeez. I can't even handle the Underground in the mornings," Amy muttered distractedly to herself. There was just too much to see here and not nearly enough time to see it all.

The Doctor, hands in his trouser pockets, was already walking down the hallway and looking curiously around at everything. Amy, who'd been looking at a painting with great interest (she thought it looked familiar and assumed that she'd likely seen it somewhere in her time), didn't noticed until he was quite far from her, and she did a little jog to catch up with him.

"So, d'you think Marie's somewhere here? 'Cos her daughter was, so she probably is, yeah? Oh my god, what am I going to say if I meet her? 'Yes, hello, I'm Amy Pond, I'm from England in about two hundred and twenty-five years.'"

"Babbling again," the Doctor pointed out.

"Oh! Right. But really though, what'll we do?"

"We can just do what I usually do. Dress up and pretend we're someone else, so we won't get in trouble. It works most of the time."

"Alright," Amy said, shrugging. The two of them were turning around a corner to enter another hallway, when something suddenly clicked inside her brain.

"Wait, what do you mean, _usually_?"

* * *

><p>The Doctor and Amy spent quite a bit of time navigating hallways and ducking behind things whenever someone came near (they couldn't be seen until at least one of them had some sort of disguise on). It wasn't a very large building compared to what Amy imagined other castles must be like (or the palace of Versailles, even), but it was still far larger than most buildings she'd ever been in. She supposed that it was a good idea that they were sneaking around and finding their way - it would be far easier to escape if they needed to.<p>

Luckily, Amy was able to come across a wardrobe with several drawers of spare servant clothing, and nicked a single dress for herself. She'd rushed back to the TARDIS, tossed her nightie and robe inside, and donned a full-length, rather plain-looking dress. She went back to where the Doctor was waiting for her, and surprising her, he told her she looked lovely. Winking at him, she attempted a step forwards and fell flat on her face.

The Doctor helped her up whilst laughing at her, and Amy cursed under her breath as she continued on. "Bloody skirts'll kill me," she growled.

* * *

><p>"How long is this going to take?" Amy asked after they descended another flight of stairs. "We've been walking around for ages, can we just find Marie now?"<p>

"We've been looking for her all along, we just haven't run into her yet."

"We have? Well, we're rubbish, then."

"'Scuse me, I take offense to that."

As they went underneath a low stone archway, Amy began to hear the sound of nearby voices. She hurried ahead of the Doctor and slunk around a corner to find the source. Two servant girls were chatting as they came down the hall, and Amy cheerily linked her arm around the Doctor's as they went closer to them.

"What d'you think you're doing?" one of the girls piped up, staring at Amy. "The queen's asked all the maids to go to Madame Royale's apartments, why're you walking around?"

"I, um… I'll go there now," Amy squeaked, clearly intimidated by the girl's sudden outburst.

"Just be sure you do!" the other, slightly shorter girl exclaimed earnestly. The two maids gawped at the Doctor, who had been staring confusedly at them, and the duo walked off.

"Well, I didn't see _that_ one coming," the Doctor admitted.

"How many girls work at this place that I can just walk in, and they think I've been here all along? And don't you look at me like that, mister," Amy threatened, crossing her arms and laughing.

"Quite a lot of them, apparently."

"And… how can I understand them? This is France, isn't it? I don't know French, Doctor."

"The TARDIS' translation circuits! It sort of gets in your head, and you can understand any language, spoken or written, that the TARDIS knows of. Brilliant, isn't it?" he answered her.

"…the TARDIS got into my head? You didn't think to ask me?" Amy asked quickly.

Sounding sincerely apologetic, the Doctor hung his head slightly. "Erm, no. Sorry about that."

Amy laughed and smacked at his arm. "Gotcha, spaceman, I was joking. S'alright. That _is_ sort of brilliant, though. Has that box of yours got any way of helping me find where I'm supposed to go?"

"Afraid not. I haven't got any idea where the nursery is, so I guess you're going to have to find that one on your own. I'm not in maid's clothes, so I don't think they're going to appreciate me coming with you."

"They might! They might even think you're not all there, not with that bowtie on."

"Ha ha, aren't you funny. Alright, so, Pond, I'm going to continue looking. If you need anything, just holler, I'll find you. I'll come get you if I find anyone you'd want to meet, too. Be careful, don't get on anyone's bad side. The royals aren't exactly beloved by the public in 1785," he told her. Patting her on the shoulder, he snuck off down another hallway.

"Yes, _dad_!" Amy huffed to his retreating back. "I'm a big girl, I'll be fine."

She sighed, stretched out her arms above her head, adjusted her dress and apron, and hurried to follow the two girls to the nursery.

With her back turned, Amy did not see a figure move in the shadows at the other end of the hallway.

* * *

><p>The Doctor wasn't sure if he was imagining things, or if there really was something odd going on in the Petit Trianon. He could sense that something was amiss - not necessarily bad, but something that definitely shouldn't be here. As far as he could tell from what he'd seen of the building so far, everything was as it should be, and nothing was against what would one day be in the history books.<p>

So why did he feel like something _was_?

The corridor he'd squeezed himself into was a rather dark one, the only light coming from the hallway he'd just left, and the hallway directly ahead of him. It was the perfect opportunity for someone to hide or for something to jump out at you, so the Doctor was careful to move along quickly.

He found his way into another quiet hallway. Why was the whole place so silent? Maybe it was simply emptier than he'd imagined it would be. If that was possible for a royal household.

Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed movement. Finally, a person, at last! He turned, and he felt some sort of disturbance again, but this one was much more familiar than the other one had been. There was a man sitting on a decorated wooden bench, shifting uncomfortably.

"Hello there! D'you know where I might find Her Majesty?" the Doctor asked the stranger cheerily. Then, changing his tone completely, he added, "Or better yet, do you want to tell me why you're on this planet?"

The man's eyes went wide and he blinked rapidly. "I-I don't quite know what you mean, sir."

"Oh, yes you do. I can sense a shimmer anywhere. You're one of the Vinvocci, aren't you? Bit far from home, aren't we?"

The man gave an exasperated sigh, apparently giving up with his façade. Reaching his arm out, he shook his sleeve to reveal a wristwatch, and after tapping several buttons, his appearance changed completely. Now sitting on the bench was a man of the same height and wearing the same clothes, but with bright green, sharp-spiked skin.

"I'm the Doctor. What's your name?" The Doctor asked quietly as he sat beside the creature.

"Robinson. I've heard all the stories about you, Doctor. The Immortality Gate, Joshua Naismith…Rossiter was my uncle, you know. He was glad to help you. But the way he described you," Robinson trailed off, shaking his head. "You don't look like that at all."

"I guess you could say I've changed since then. Now, Robinson. What brings you to France in 1785? You're far out of your time."

"Have you heard of the Milky Way Travel Agency? They set up trips to Earth and other planets nearby, any era you want. They handle everything and rent you a vortex manipulator," he told the Doctor, moving his other wrist to show him a thick piece of leather with mechanical controls, "and it gets reclaimed at the end of your trip. It's a wonderful concept; I've already been to Jupiter in 5885. I'm here to see the king and queen."

"You and me both, Robinson. Would you happen to have seen my friend? Red hair, long dress, might have looked sort of lost?"

Robinson went quiet for a moment as he thought. "Not that I can remember, sorry. It's lovely to meet you, but I should go and find my sister. You should find your friend, Doctor. Foreign lands aren't always safe, you know."

With one last smile, Robinson tapped at his shimmer to return to his human form, stood up and whisked himself down a corridor, away from the Doctor. The Doctor continued to sit and think for a moment. Why hadn't he heard of the Milky Way Travel Agency before? It seemed odd to him that he'd never even come into contact with somebody associated with it, in all his travels to Earth. And how had this travel agency acquired so many vortex manipulators? They belonged only to Time Agents, and finding one on its own was rare. But so many? Interesting indeed.

Wondering if there was anyone else in the Petit Trianon that could answer his question, the Doctor set off in the maze of hallways once more.

* * *

><p>After several minutes, the two servant girls that Amy was following entered a cramped, brightly-lit room full of people. There had to be at least a hundred servants filling the room, all bustling about and going in and out of the room. A rather frazzled looking woman, brown hair with grey tinges falling out of her bun, ran over to Amy and grasped her by the shoulders, starling her.<p>

"Are you here to help?"

"Um… yes?"

"Oh, good. You can watch over Madame Royale. The usual children she plays with haven't been brought to the palace today, so she is all by herself. The duchess is a bit out of it today; having some problems organising the staff. I've heard she's had a bit of a falling out with her majesty. Oh, we're so busy today. We're behind on cleaning and meal planning, so please make sure the girl is content, alright?"

"Will do, ma'am," Amy said, trying to keep herself as professional as possible.

Before she had time to regain her composure after entering the bustling servant's quarters, Amy was ushered out of the room, up several staircases and into a room filled with nothing but a welcome silence - and the little blonde girl that had nearly caught her and the Doctor when they had first arrived.

The door shut behind Amy with a click, and the little girl's head spun around to see her new visitor. She spoke very quickly, and Amy thought her to be one of those children that had a fair amount to say and wanted to get it all across immediately.

"Are you going to stay with me today? My governess said she was going to sent someone else in. She's far too busy. What's your name?"

Amy smiled warmly at the child and plopped herself down on the floor beside her. "I'm Amelia, but you can just call me Amy, no need to be formal or anything. And yeah, I'll be with you today, if that's alright," she told her. The girl nodded, and Amy continued. "What do you want me to call you? Marie? Madame Royale? I've heard lots of names for you."

The little girl gave a nervous giggle and looked down at the doll in her hands. "People call mummy Marie, and she calls me _mousseline._But you can call me Marie if you want."

"Noted. I guess I'll be calling your mum 'Her Majesty' from now on. So, Marie… what d'you do for fun around here? Play with dolls? Check out some boys? I've got to have some idea of what we can do today."

Marie laughed again in little peals that were almost musical. "No, it's just me and my brothers. Mummy sometimes brings in some of the poorer children to play with me. They're very nice, but I think a lot of French people don't like mummy very much anymore, so I play by myself a lot. Sometimes I sneak into the hallways and watch all the different people."

"Oh you naughty little thing! You spy on the servants?"

"No, I spy on the funny-looking people."

Amy raised an eyebrow. Was the TARDIS' translation circuit faulty? Or was Marie just not understanding her?

"Hon, what do you mean by 'funny-looking people'?"

"Well, yesterday I saw a lady with blue skin. And I saw another person with spikes on his face. D'you want to see them?"

Amy felt a chill run down her back at little Marie's words. She certainly hadn't misunderstood the question. Whatever it was that was happening here, she wanted to understand it and she wanted to see it firsthand. Even if she wouldn't understand it, she needed to let the Doctor know what was going on.

"Show me the funny people, Marie."

* * *

><p>When the Doctor had bounded off in search of someone who had answers for him (either a tourist or someone involved in the setup of the travel agency), he hadn't expected to find much. Yet, somehow, he'd managed to stumble across several species as he walked laps around the Petit Trianon. Most gave him the same information he'd already gathered from Robinson, but some gave him what he needed.<p>

One in particular was the Zocci, a species that the Doctor had stumbled across before. The creature that he encountered did not give his name, and, like the others, gave him the usual story - vortex manipulators, how the rental system worked, everything. This time, however, the Doctor was told of something else as well.

"…and there's always the possibility that I could take another trip right after this one, you see, if I can find the prize and bring it back. I get another free round-trip as my winnings, no paym-"

"Prize?" The Doctor queried.

"Oh, I suppose you haven't heard of that, Doctor. You see, with every trip they offer, there's a sort of scavenger hunt for a specific thing from that place and time. The agency is low on money, so they're trying to make a nice little resort of their own, for extra income. They told us that the more prizes we bring back to them, the better it will be for their business. I get another trip out of it, so I don't mind. But that's also a bad thing, see, because we're supposed to acquire the prize in the most respectful and kindest way. Some just go against the rules and take it simply for the reward, which as good as takes me out of the running for the trip entirely, because I refuse to -"

The Doctor continued to watch him, eyes burning, and cut him off before he could continue his rambling. "And what's the prize this time around?"

"The queen's daughter, Marie."

* * *

><p>Amy and Marie were positioned in the perfect place in the hallway. Knowing that the 'funny-looking people' primarily went past Marie's room, the two of them hid under a covered table directly across the hall from her door. They waited there, whispering to one another until they both heard the sound of footsteps coming from somewhere nearby, and they fell silent.<p>

"Look!" Marie exclaimed, her voice so quiet that it was barely audible at all. "There!"

Amy did look, and she could feel her eyes bug out as the two of them stared at the figure coming down the hall in their direction. There really was a blue woman, just as Marie had said.

The woman's skin was a royal blue, almost the same shade of blue as the TARDIS, which made her eyes stand out magnificently against the rest of her face. More of a contrast was her hair - it was a long and flowing bright blonde. She walked with grace, either uncaring or oblivious to the fact that having blue skin was not a common occurrence in 18th century France. Without any hesitation, the woman reached for the handle to Marie's door and opened it. Was she looking for the girl?

Clearly unhappy with the lack of royalty present in the bedroom, the blue-skinned woman pulled her head back out and shut the door after her.

Marie was the first to move out from under the table when the woman had disappeared from view. "Miss Amy, did you see her skin?" she asked excitedly. "That's the woman I was talking about! She must be looking for me for some reason, but I don't know why. Do you, miss Amy?"

The little girl was clearly enamoured with the idea of a different species from her own, and not at all bothered that aliens were on the lookout for her. Amy, however, _was_ bothered by it.

"Do you want to go for a little walk, Marie? You have to be quiet and hide when I tell you to, but I know someone who can explain this."

* * *

><p>"Doctor!"<p>

The Doctor, who had hoisted himself up into a tall window to get a better view of the grounds, spun around to see Amy rushing down the hallway with the little blonde girl from earlier.

"Hello Amy! Who's your friend there?" he asked, leaping down from the window

"You know who this is, you're the one that explained it to me! Never mind that, we've got a bigger problem here," Amy hissed. "Have you seen any… uh, blue people running around here?"

"Blue people?" The Doctor asked with a laugh. "Can't say I've run into any blue people here, no. Green and red people, yes, but not blue. I've met some before though, so you're going to have to be a bit more specific than that, Pond. Unless you've got a name. That would help."

Amy shook her head and shrugged her shoulders. "Look, all I know is that not everyone here is human, and they're looking for Marie," she said, looking down at the little girl. "Haven't you seen anything?"

The Doctor had seemed to be in a bit of a joking mood with Amy at first, but at her question, he changed completely.

"Amy, I need you to listen to me, and I need you to listen carefully, alright?"

"I'm listening."

"Alright. There's a sort of game going on here. A bunch of alien tourists are on a scavenger hunt to find a prize, and when they bring the prize back to their resort, they get a free trip as a reward."

Amy whistled. "Sounds nice."

"You'd think. But this prize," the Doctor confided, his voice dropping to a whisper, "is your little friend there."

"They can't do that. I definitely don't remember hearing that the queen's daughter was kidnapped, Doctor. This isn't supposed to happen."

"I know that. If they take her from Earth, they'll rewrite time and it will change everything. We have to prevent this Amy, because clearly, this isn't meant to be happening. Not now, not in this reality."

Remembering that Marie was still standing next to the two of them and looking curiously at them, Amy cleared her throat and changed the subject.

"What do we do?"

"First things first, Amy: find a way to get to the people that set this up. I've already tried going to the tourists, but as you'd expect, they're not that well informed. But, each one's got a vortex manipulator - it's on their wrists, it looks like a bit of leather with a little machine on it. We need to get out hands on one, it's the only way to get back to this 'resort' thing. Then, we need to come up with a way of convincing them to keep Marie here. That's going to be the tricky bit."

Amy nodded and reached down to pick the little girl up. Marie clung to her, her arms wrapped tightly around her neck.

"And what about Marie?" Amy asked, nodding at the girl in her arms. "We can't just leave her here, and if we take her there, it's easier for them to keep her."

"Oh, please, can I come?" Marie begged, pouting at the Doctor. "I heard everything you said, sir. I never get to go anywhere. Mummy always makes sure I'm safe, but that's _so_ boring."

The Doctor gave a small chuckle and tapped the child on the nose. "'Course you can. But you've got to be brave, okay? Be as brave as you can and don't run off. Can you do that?"

Marie nodded and smiled brightly at him. "Yes."

He patted her on the head and grabbed Amy by the shoulders. "Come along, Pond. We're going to catch ourselves a tourist."

* * *

><p>"Okay, so tell me your plan again."<p>

The Doctor, Amy and Marie had snuck around the Petit Trianon to try and find Robinson and soon enough, they did. He was probably the least suspicious of all the aliens they had seen altogether, seeming to only be on the trip for the historical aspect.

"I'm going to go over to him and ask for the vortex thingy. That's easy enough, isn't it?"

The Doctor raised his hands and shrugged. "It's less complicated than any of the plans I came up with. Give it a go."

"Yeah, you wanted to set up a bet. That's definitely not how I play, Doctor."

Mildly worried about the sort of answer he'd receive, the Doctor peered warily at Amy and asked, "How _do_ you play, then?"

Amy winked. "Just watch and see. His name is Robinson, yeah?"

Without waiting for the Doctor to answer her, Amy strode around the corner, tossing her hair over her shoulder and swaying her skirts whenever she could. Her target was the man directly at the end of a hallway, innocently examining a painting. _Poor__ guy_, the Doctor thought to himself.

"'Scuse me, do you know the way to the gardens?"

Robinson turned to look beside him and found a woman, who was looking intently at him, her head turned slightly to the side. She had long, wavy red hair that fell across her shoulders, standing out sharply against her skin. She batted her eyelashes repeatedly at him as she waited for him to answer.

He swallowed. "Um, I think it's two lefts and a right, then go down the staircase."

The red-haired woman did not leave his side, but instead kept staring at him. Avoiding her gaze, Robinson turned back to the painting, not really looking at it but taking the opportunity to appear busy.

"What've you got there on your wrist?" the woman asked, pointing at his vortex manipulator with great interest.

Robinson didn't see how telling the servant girl would do any harm. She was just a maid, after all, and even if his secret got out, nobody would believe her.

"If you must know, it's called a vortex manipulator. I can travel anywhere in time and space with it. Wonderful, isn't it?"

"My, that's _fascinating_, may I see it?"

Back down at the other end of the hallway, the Doctor and Marie watched Amy at work. The Doctor was absolutely flabbergasted, whilst Marie sat and giggled.

"Look at that man's face! He's gone all red!" she squealed through her laughter. "Miss Amy is so funny."

"Yes," he Doctor repeated, watching the encounter nervously. "Funny."

"So, would it be alright if I just borrowed your vortex manipulator for a bit?" Amy asked Robinson quietly, smiling at him.

Robinson gave a jittery, nervous laugh, as though the mere idea of giving it away was ridiculous. "Oh, I don't know…"

"Please?" Amy asked sweetly, reaching out to touch his arm. "I only need it for a moment. I'll give it right back, I promise."

"I… well, I suppose it would be fine," Robinson admitted, fumbling to remove the vortex manipulator from his wrist.

"Thanks, sweetheart," Amy whispered, winking at him. "You'll get it back." Pulling it from his hands, she went back down the hallway and around the corner to meet back with the Doctor and Marie. The Doctor seemed as nervous as Robinson had been. Amy tossed the device to him and he caught it, still watching her cautiously.

"Alright, here's the vortex manipulator. That was really easy, actually!"

The Doctor shook his head as he looked down at the device in his hands. "That was cruel. We could have thought of another way to get one of these, you know."

Amy pointed a finger in his face. "Hey, watch it, or you're next."

The two of them laughed loudly. Amy was too caught up in the rush of accomplishing her task to put her finger on why she had a strange feeling, but the Doctor, who had the same feeling, did almost immediately.

"Where's Marie?" he asked, destroying the happy mood.

"I thought she was with you!" Amy shrieked, whirling about. "Where's she gone?"

The Doctor closed his eyes and bowed his head. "I think you know where she's gone," he replied, his voice full of regret.

"They've got Marie! Doctor, we have to do something!" Amy whispered, clutching desperately at his jacket sleeve. "They're going to take her back to their resort! She's going to be stuck there!"

Amy was consumed with fear for the child. She'd seen the determination in the face of the blue-skinned woman that had come looking for her.

The Doctor, who had been standing absolutely still and staring straight forward, suddenly had an expression of the utmost seriousness plastered on his face.

"The hell she will."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Sorry this took so long! Writer's block has been acting up again... anyway, hope you enjoy this, and thank you for all the lovely reviews! x **


	12. Chapter 12

Not deterred by Marie's sudden disappearance, the Doctor began to hastily fasten the vortex manipulator that Amy had taken for him to his wrist. He tapped at the controls quickly, and Amy was surprised that he knew how to work it. She'd certainly seen anything like it before in her life. But then again, she didn't exactly have a whole lot of experience with time and space travel.

"Amy, grab my hand. We're going," he told her, programming the buttons on the device as he spoke. By the tone of his voice, Amy could tell that his mood had changed drastically.

"Now? Have you even got a plan?" Amy demanded, despite his mood. "We can't just stroll into that resort thing and demand her back. Do you really think that's going to work, Doctor?"

"It's a plan in progress!" the Doctor shot back.

The Doctor reached his arm out and waggled his fingers at her. The sooner she grabbed him, the sooner they could find Marie. He couldn't even imagine the consequences if they ended up failing. History would be altered forever, and not necessarily for the better.

Amy eyed his outstretched arm nervously, knowing that the Doctor would get her to come with him one way or another. She closed her eyes, took one last deep breath of the French air, and grabbed the Doctor's hand. There was a crackle of electricity, a brief flash of light, and the Doctor and Amy disappeared from the Petit Trianon.

Amy felt as though her insides were being twisted and pulled this way and that. It was as though she was being ripped in two, each half of her unsure of where it was meant to be. It was dizzying and horrid, despite the whole experience being hardly even a second long.

When Amy opened her eyes again, the pressure on her hand was absent and she felt a cold chill. The two of them were in an entirely white room - the walls, ceiling, floor and door at the other side were completely blank. The Doctor had moved from his place beside her to where the door was, finding it locked.

"Doctor, where are we?" Amy asked looking around at the room. "It's just… white."

"It's the resort; the coordinates were pre-programmed into the vortex manipulator. Before we can get Marie, we need to figure out a way of getting out of here. This door is locked, and it's not opening with the sonic."

The Doctor had pulled his sonic screwdriver out of his pocket and was inspecting the door, muttering a few choice words under his breath in what Amy could only assume was Gallifreyan.

"Here, let me see," Amy said, laughing to herself.

She was mere inches from the door when it suddenly slid open. Amy gave a tiny squeak of fright and jumped back, whilst the Doctor only looked startled. What had frightened Amy the most was not the sudden opening of the door, but what stood on the other side of it. The creature was of about average human height, but looked far different. It was bald, with ears that could be accurately described as pointy-edged holes on either side of its head. It had slits for a nose, and most disturbing of all, its mouth had several long, wriggling tentacles hanging from it.

The creature held in its hand a small, glowing orb, which was attached to its mouth via a thin white wire. The creature cocked its head at the Doctor and Amy and narrowed its eyes, making Amy feel very uncomfortable.

"What the hell is that?" Amy whispered shakily, knowing that the Doctor could hear her.

"That's an Ood. Wonderful species. They _were_ originally free, but your kind enslaved them. This one must be one of the few servants left. Hello!" the Doctor called cheerily out to it. "Sorry for bursting in."

Staring at him, Amy hissed, "Bursting in? What's our excuse for even being here?"

"I'll come up with one. Just play along. Yes, sorry about this. We just wanted to head back a little bit early today, if that's alright?"

"Certainly. This way, please," the Ood replied. Amy noted that its voice was warm and friendly, but had an almost robotic quality to it.

The Ood motioned behind him, and the Doctor and Amy went hesitantly through the doorway of the white room. The hallway was just as sparsely coloured and decorated as their previous location, only this time, the room they entered was nearly ten times the size. The ceiling was one of the tallest Amy had ever seen, complete with a model of several galaxies hanging from the ceiling and swaying about. At the far end of the great hall were hundreds of seats - _this __must __be __some __sort __of __theatre_, Amy thought to herself. However, for the time being, every seat was empty.

"Do you require any more assistance, sir and madam?" the Ood piped up, turning its head to the side again as it spoke to them.

"Erm, no, that'll do. Thank you!" Amy quickly exclaimed, before even giving the Doctor a chance to say anything. She smiled warmly at the creature, trying to ignore how disturbed she was by its appearance. It simply blinked in return, turned almost mechanically, and went on its way.

Turning to the Doctor, she grabbed his arm and pointed at all the other doorways around them. "Alright, it's snooping time, mister. Which one d'you want to check out first?"

With a small smirk, the Doctor patted her hand and looked over at Amy. "Pond, if I didn't know better, I'd say you were actually _enjoying_ this trip."

"Shut up, I might be enjoying it a little. Anyway, where're we off to?"

"Pick a door, any door!"

Amy laughed and hauled him off to a door to their left, the thrill of the unknown coursing through her veins. She hated to admit it to the Doctor, after the fuss she'd put up about him initially abandoning her, but she really was having fun. Amy really was glad she's decided on taking one trip after all. A part of her felt somewhat guilty, however, for having fun when there was a serious matter at hand. Marie's safe return was first and foremost on her priorities.

The Doctor's thoughts were remarkably similar to hers. Amy seemed to be having the thrill of a lifetime, just as he'd known she would. She could be as stubborn as she liked - he would always be able to see through it.

* * *

><p>The room that Amy had chosen to enter with the Doctor was a remarkable one. It was very similar to an Earth museum, complete with glass cases and information cards in front of each. And, like the rest of the resort, the colour scheme was simply white.<p>

Amy leaned casually over a glass case and peered at what sat inside on a plush red cushion.

"Floatation device from the Titantic cruise liner, December 2008," Amy read aloud from the information card, giving a short, disbelieving laugh after she finished. "Stupid. That can't be right, the Titanic went ages before then. Doctor?"

The Doctor, who had been looking interestedly at a large display case full of rubble, answered her distractedly. "Erm, yeah, the Earth one did. That's from the one in space."

"_The __one __in __space_? I -wait, hold on. December 2008? I remember seeing some great big thing in the sky around then. Was that it?"

"Probably. Amy, I think we need to leave this room, there's something not right about it." The Doctor told her, looking around at other glass cases as he spoke. "We need to go."

"It looks fine in here to me. Frightened of museums, Doctor?" Amy joked, hitting him lightly on the arm.

"Amy, look around at everything in here. Take a good look. What's the same about most of them?" the Doctor queried, holding her shoulders to move her around.

"Uh, there's a lot of alien stuff, isn't there? And there's a lot from the past. I don't know, there's just a lot of everything!" Amy exclaimed, tossing her hands up.

"Everything in here is from a place I've been before. All of it. Look, that rubble is from Pompeii. I was on the Titanic cruise liner. And see that panel with an eye carved in it? That's from Big Brother in the year 200,100."

"So what, Doctor? You've pretty much been everywhere, haven't you? It's just a coincidence," Amy told him, despite being unsure of it herself.

The Doctor went quiet, his hands still on Amy's shoulders. He was evidently thinking hard about what she had said, as his grip on her was getting tighter and tighter. Then, without warning, he let go and straightened his bowtie.

"Rule number one, Pond. Never ignore a coincidence. Unless you're busy, in which case, always ignore a coincidence. Come on!"

He grabbed her hand and pulled her back through the doorway with him. Despite his change in tone of voice, Amy remained unconvinced. She was positive that the Doctor would never simply ignore something like this. She hadn't made the connection between all of the artefacts herself, but after the Doctor had pointed it out, it disturbed her. How could each of the objects possibly be from the exact points in time and space that the Doctor had once visited? It was all too suspicious to be completely disregarded, but Amy had more important things to do at the moment.

Making their way back into the great hall, Amy let go of his hand and went towards another door. "All of these are probably storage rooms for the prizes, yeah? There's not many of them, so we're going to find Marie in no time. We need to get her back home before anyone sees that she's gone," she told the Doctor.

"That's easy enough. We've got overconfidence, that's a great start, don't you think?"

"You're mental."

"I won't argue with that. Lead on, Pond."

* * *

><p>The other doorways were not all museum-like rooms, as Amy had thought. One or two of them were, but most had different purposes. One room was a control room filled with multiple Ood (Amy left this room almost as quickly as she had entered it), one was simply a room filled with packing crates, and another was a small room with guests (they appeared to be having some sort of a party, complete with a buffet). Several failed attempts at finding Marie later, Amy and the Doctor finally found the room they were looking for.<p>

It was a room exactly like the one they had first arrived in - completely white with no furniture at all. Marie was lying on the floor, her delicate blonde curls fanned out around her head. She was staring up at the empty ceiling, and Amy had the idea that she was imagining what was out there, beyond the ship and in the deepest corners of space.

"Marie!" Amy cried out to her. "You're safe! Oh, thank god!"

Marie lifted her head up to find the source of the voice. She saw the Doctor first, and then Amy, and smiled. "Mr. Doctor! Miss Amy! Someone took me from my home, oh, mummy is going to be so worried."

Amy hurried over to the child and hugged her. "As long as we get you back, she's going to be the happiest woman in the world."

The Doctor, however, seemed like he was not in the time for sentiment.

"Marie, who brought you here?"

"Uhh… it was a woman with a spiky green face. She looked like the man that Miss Amy took the funny bracelet from, Mister Doctor."

"Oh my god. Robinson's family?" Amy whispered to the Doctor, whose face was blank.

"Might have been. Come on, Marie, we're going to go find the people with the spiky green faces. Now, mind you don't call any of them a cactus, okay? That's not very nice," the Doctor told Marie amicably.

* * *

><p>The Doctor, Amy and Marie went to look for Robinson and his sister in the party room they had stumbled across before. Sure enough, the Vinvocci were there, chatting animatedly with two androids. During one particularly raucous laugh, Robinson saw the three travellers out of the corner of his eye and paled.<p>

Leaving Amy and Marie standing in the doorway, the Doctor went straight towards Robinson's group and pulled the glass from his hands.

"We need to talk."

"Doctor, before you ask me anything, I know what you're going to s-"

"Then tell me why. You specifically told me you were there to see the king and queen, but you left out the bit where you planned to kidnap a child," the Doctor pointed out. "And that's exactly why I have an issue with you right now."

Robinson sighed and scratched at his arm. "I wish I had a real answer for you Doctor, but the truth is that I don't know. Myra and I-"

"Myra?"

"My sister. We weren't going to do it at all, finding the prize. But… I don't know. She was right there. It was impulse, Doctor. I'm so sorry."

"The problem remains that she's here. We're getting her out, but -"

The Doctor was suddenly cut off by a scream of terror coming from the doorway. Momentarily forgetting about the presence of Robinson and Myra, the Doctor whirled around. Amy was backed up against a wall, her eyes wide and her lips mouthing words that would not come, terrified of what stood before her. Four Ood had entered the party room and grabbed Marie, and Amy was paralysed with fear, unable to stop them.

"Doctor!" she wailed, her limbs shaking as she slid herself down to the floor.

The Ood had disappeared before Amy could regain her dignity, and before the Doctor could reach them. Amy was whimpering with fear as the Doctor bent over to help her stand up, and she clutched to his jacket.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," Amy cried, her eyes begging him to believe her. "I'm sorry, I… I just… I couldn't…"

"Ssh, it's alright, Amy. We're going to get her back and end this. You and me, Amy. You'll be fine."

Amy wiped at her eyes and shook her head. "Ood had better not show up on Earth when I'm still alive, I swear."

* * *

><p>Whilst the Doctor had been consoling Amy, the great hall was filling up with all of the guests that weren't in the party room. The Ood in the control room set up the stage - a towering, white structure that was lifted up from the floor - and everyone crowded around it, awaiting the announcement of the capture of the newest prize. The room seemed so full and lively now, compared to how barren and empty it had been mere minutes before.<p>

Amy was incredibly glad that her and the Doctor didn't have to for an extensive search once again, and that Marie was just outside the door. Realising that by now, they were probably known as troublesome intruders, the Doctor suggested that they hide, and formulate a plan once they were safe. They would have come up with the perfect hiding place, had they had some more time. Several Ood came around a corner and headed in their direction, causing the Doctor and Amy to duck behind large stacks of crates.

Soon, the ceremony had begun. A rather severe, dark-haired woman graced across the stage, contrasting sharply against the rest of the room. She reached the podium on the far end of the stage and tapped at the microphone, silencing the crowd.

"Good afternoon, honoured guests. Today, we present you with the Milky Way Travel Agency's most recently claimed prize, Madame Royale of France! We have here Marie Thérèse Charlotte-"

The Doctor's stomach dropped violently with dread as Amy went barrelling out from the crates the two of them were hiding behind, headed straight for the woman at the podium. Miraculously, she somehow managed to make it all the way across the room without tripping over the hem of her uniform.

The woman that had been holding a petrified Marie let go of her hand and hastily reached below the podium to what the Doctor assumed was an alarm to call security. She turned around once again to whisk the child away, but Amy was too fast for her. Running full-speed towards her, Amy hoisted the child into her arms and jumped up on the seats beside the podium.

"Get the hell away from her!" she shrieked, batting her arm at the Ood that had quickly arrived to intercept her. "Doctor! Doctor!"

"Let her go."

The crowd began to quiet down as everyone watched the Doctor make his way to the stage. The room was silent, apart from the occasional excited whisper from the back of the group. When he was finally on the stage, the crowd reformed into one large mass once more in their hurry to watch him. Without so much as a look around at anyone, the Doctor stepped up to the podium.

"You have a friend of ours that we'd like back. And I'd really suggest you all stay away from Amy over there," he said simply, "Unless you'd all like to get a cricket bat to the head from her someday, let her go."

Amy would have found his words humorous, had they not been intended as a serious threat.

Easing back slowly, the Ood around Amy dispersed, leaving the angry woman and the frightened child standing on the chairs. With uneasy looks at everyone around her, Amy lowered herself back to the floor, pulling Marie down with her. Ushering the child forwards with her, Amy moved towards the Doctor, where she knew she was far less likely to be attacked once more.

"I'm speaking to the people of the Milky Way Travel Agency. You all know why I'm here. Your aim is to create a museum of historical artefacts, only that's not going to work with me, because you're going to pull time apart. You can't run into a part of time and space and remove an important figure from their own time. Everything will shut down and collapse, changing everything, and not necessarily for the better."

"What do we care?" someone yelled out from the back of the crowd. "We get something out of it!" The crowd laughed in agreement, making the Doctor furious.

"You-"

"Get off, let me do it."

Amy had shoved the Doctor out of the way and stood in front of the podium herself, and the Doctor, flabbergasted, did not fight her off.

"Alright, listen up. You're not keeping this kid here, okay? She's not yours, so you can all shove off and leave her alone."

"But she's ours, ma'am! She was found by us and she's now the property of the public!" a voice cried from somewhere in the crowd. There were several murmurs of agreement that resonated around the room, many of the creatures nodding and calling out 'Hear hear!'

Tears began to cloud Amy's eyes as she held the little girl against her. Though, whether they were from anger or frustration, the Doctor could not tell. Amy looked out at the group in front of her with blazing eyes, and spoke to them.

"Look at what you're doing. All of you, creatures from other worlds, coming together to kidnap a child just so that you can make more money and get free trips, and all this other rubbish. Just think about what it's like for her! She's afraid and she's alone, but you're all too thick to notice that-"

"Amy-" the Doctor began to interject.

"Shut up for a second," she snapped at him, before turning back to face everyone in front of her. "She didn't ask to be a part of history, alright? That's just the way the Earth worked. She's only a girl, she's not a stupid vase or a pile of rubble or something. She's a _child_. Think about all your kids, or even yourselves. What would it be like if someone stole you away and planned on keeping you away from home for the rest of your life? She's not yours, she's got a family of her own. She's got brothers and her parents are the king and queen, for god's sakes! Remember that next time you're collecting a stupid prize, alright? I don't care if you don't think about or even understand what you're doing to _time_ or whatever. Remember the prizes, and that they aren't all willing to participate."

The crowd, who had previously been boisterous and loud, had gone completely silent. The Doctor noticed that many of the creatures actually looked ashamed of themselves, and some had their heads bowed.

Marie, who had been as still and silent as she'd ever been before, fidgeted slightly against Amy's skirts as she turned to gaze up at her. The girl peered up at Amy with a look of great reverence - she was the reason she'd get to go home again. Amy bent down to pick the girl up, and her flaming red hair whirled as she turned to look over her shoulder at the crowd again.

"Marie's with me. Tell that to your bosses, okay?"

* * *

><p>Amy and the Doctor went back to a quiet hallway several minutes later with a sleepy Marie, her heavy eyelids primarily staying closed. Amy settled the girl down on the floor and sat beside her as she let her rest, whilst the Doctor went off to finish some last-minute things, promising to be back quickly.<p>

His first priority was to find Robertson. He found the man, sitting beside his sister on the seats in the great hall. At the sight of the Doctor, his green skin paled and he looked terribly ashamed of himself. The Doctor sat down directly in front of him, making sure he kept constant eye contact with the Vinvocci.

"Doctor, I do apologize, but I'd imagine that's not enough," he croaked out, his head hung. "It was a disgusting thing to do, betraying the trust of you and your pretty friend. I know you're unhappy with us both. I don't imagine you have a very high opinion of us at the moment."

"No, you're right, I really don't."

Robertson sighed heavily and looked over at his sister. She too wore an expression of deepest regret and, like her brother, could hardly even make eye contact with the Doctor. "Myra and I are going to be sitting the last trip out here onboard. We've had enough of the thrill of prize-collecting to last us a lifetime. But Doctor, Is there anything I can do for you?"

The Doctor adjusted his position in his seat and thought carefully, drumming his fingers on the table as he racked his brains.

"Actually, Robertson, there is something you can do for me. That vortex manipulator of yours - we tricked you into giving it to us in the first place, but would it be too much to ask for it again? Marie needs to get back home."

"You can keep it for all I care," Robertson told him, hastily removing the device from his wrist. "I don't even want to see the stupid thing anymore."

"Thank you. And one last thing - would you happen to know where I could find the captain? I'd like to have a word."

"He should be in the captain's quarters. Just down a little flight of stairs that way," he said, pointing off into the distance. "He's a very jittery, frightened man. It might be hard to get any information from him. Good luck, Doctor."

The Doctor nodded and got up from his seat. "Goodbye, Robinson. Myra."

Their two sets of eyes followed the Doctor as he exited the room and went to where Robertson had pointed out the staircase to the captain's quarters.

"I hope he can figure something out. This business keeps too many secrets, Myra. I don't like the sound of it anymore."

* * *

><p>Mr. Colin James was the captain of the resort ship, and one of the most important people in the Milky Way Travel Agency. He was, as Robinson had said, a jittery man. He spoke with a stutter, something he did not understand himself. Mr. James was also a highly nervous man, constantly looking over his shoulder and around corners for things that were not there. He didn't know why he did that either.<p>

When the Doctor entered the captain's quarters, he opened the door without knocking. Mr. James was so startled that he did a terrified little jump out of his chair and cowered behind his desk. The Doctor came closer anyway, deciding that he could very well be hard to get information from and the sooner he tried, the better.

"C-can I help y-you?" Mr. James asked, wary of the stranger.

"I'm the Doctor. No doubt, you've heard about what happened here today."

"A-about the c-child? Y-yes, I know. A-and I'm C-Colin James, by the w-way. C-captain of the ship."

The Doctor nodded, but changed the subject, trying to speed the conversation up as best he could. "I want you to know that we're taking her home. Taking prizes that are conscious of what's happening to them is the worst thing you could do, Colin. Think of what you would be doing to history. Everything would collapse."

"I-I know, but I-I was under strict o-orders to f-find a prize. I p-panicked, Doctor, s-so I chose h-her."

"Strict orders?" The Doctor asked, sitting himself down in the chair in front of Mr. James' desk.

"My bosses. T-they're h-higher up than me. T-they gave me the v-vortex manipulators. A-all I really d-do is hand them out, plan the a-accommodations on the ship, and p-pick the prizes. That's a-all."

"The vortex manipulators," the Doctor said quietly, pointing to the one he had on his wrist. "They're the property of the Time Agents. Getting one on its own is suspicious, but you lot have got hundreds. How?"

"M-my bosses gave them to us. I-I don't k-know how they got them, I-I swear," Mr. James stammered, raising his hands up as a sign that he was not to blame. "T-they just gave them to us."

"Who are these _bosses_ that I keep hearing so much about? People mention them to me but they can't tell me anything about them. Who are they?"

Mr. James shook his head and looked confused. "I-I don't know, I promise! All I h-have is a list of places we're supposed t-to travel to," he told the Doctor quickly. He pulled out a desk drawer and began to rifle through some papers. He pulled out a long sheet quickly, and slapped it down on the desk. "P-please, just see for yourself!"

The Doctor picked up the sheet and felt his blood go cold at what he saw. The paper truly did have a list of destinations on it, just as Mr. James had told him, but each one was familiar. They were all places he'd travelled before, complete with the exact times that he had been there.

"Do you not know who they are, or are you just not telling me?" the Doctor asked sternly, narrowing his eyes as he looked back at Mr. James.

"I don't know who they are, Doctor, I p-promise. If I-I knew, I would t-tell you, honestly! Please b-believe me," he pleaded.

"Colin, I trust you. I can tell you aren't lying. And believe it or not, you've been really helpful. Thank you."

"Y-you're welcome, D-Doctor."

* * *

><p>After leaving Mr. James' quarters, the Doctor had found his way back to the quiet hallway where Amy was waiting with Marie. The Doctor chuckled to himself as he found Marie sitting wide awake, silently inspecting the intricate lace on her dress to herself whilst Amy was curled up on the floor, fast asleep.<p>

Marie looked up when the Doctor came into view, and she gave him a toothy grin.

"Miss Amy is very tired, Mr. Doctor. She told me she hasn't gone to sleep in a long time, so I told her I'd watch out for you," she told him matter-of-factly. "I'm very tired too, but I promised her. I can sleep when I get back to mummy."

"That's alright, Marie. And you can just call me the Doctor, if you'd like."

Marie nodded and scampered to her feet. "Okay. We should wake Miss Amy up so we can go back home, Doctor. Mummy's going to be sad if she finds out I'm gone."

"Good point. I've got enough royalty out for me as it is. I really don't want to have to add your mother to the list. Pond, you in there?"

Amy stirred and rubbed at her face. "Mmmhmm. Five more minutes."

The Doctor laughed and hoisted her up by her arms. "You can have five minutes in a few minutes, sleepyhead. We've got a princess to return."

"You do it, then," Amy grumbled.

Smiling, the Doctor programmed the vortex manipulator and grabbed Amy's hand.

"Marie, can you hold my hand really tightly? It's time to take you home."

Marie nodded and complied, and with a flash, the three strangers on the ship disappeared back to Earth.

* * *

><p>The uncomfortable feeling of using a vortex manipulator woke Amy up (much to her displeasure). They ended up back in the Petit Trianon, just as they had left it. Amy hadn't noticed that when they had left the first time, the sky was turning slightly grey, night approaching quickly. The sky was slightly darker now, and the whole room was calmer now (although that might have been because there was no trouble here any longer). They were in Marie's room, and thankfully, they were alone.<p>

Marie was quite the little trooper - she was determined to show herself off as being strong and ready for anything, despite how tired she really was. Amy hoisted her off the ground and carried her to her comfortable-looking bed near the window. Marie was so sleepy that she couldn't even be bothered to put her bedclothes on. She simply laid there, looking up at Amy warmly.

"Thank you for bringing me home, Miss Amy."

"Sweet dreams, Marie."

Amy left her beside to let her rest, and her and the Doctor, both exhausted, moved to leave the room and get back to the TARDIS. Before they could, a door at the other side of the room creaked open, and Amy's jaw dropped at who she saw.

It was the queen of France herself, Marie Antoinette.

The queen took one look at Amy and the Doctor and went to stand beside her daughter's bed, smiling affectionately down at her. Amy was sure her eyes were bugged out, she was so shocked.

"Were you my daughter's company today?"

"Y-yes, ma'am," Amy stammered out. "I watched her today. She didn't cause any t-trouble at all."

"Wonderful. And who are you?" the queen asked the Doctor, looking unsure.

"The Doctor. I'm… just a friend of Amelia's."

"Well, thank you, Doctor. And you, Amelia, for keeping her safe. I don't know what I'd do without my _Mousseline._"

Amy smiled at her, her grin disturbingly massive for someone pretending to be a simple servant. "We'll be going now. Good evening, ma'am."

The Doctor and Amy let themselves out of the room, and before the door was even closed completely, Amy was shrieking with excitement and throwing her arms around the Doctor.

The TARDIS was right where they had left in - in the queen's bedroom. The Doctor thought it best to fly it away immediately, in case the queen made another surprise entrance that evening. With one last look at 18th century France, Amy and the Doctor climbed into the TARDIS and disappeared.

Once inside, Amy had hurried up the steps to the console and dropped herself into one of the jumpseats, her legs too weary to do anything more. The Doctor, however, was still on the move. He rushed to the console after her, and after a brief pause to collect himself, he began to fly the TARDIS once more. After the loud noises and shaky landing ceased, the Doctor went over to where Amy was seated and leaned on the console in front of her.

"We're back in London," the Doctor said simply. His expression was unreadable, but Amy suspected that he was putting up an impressive mask.

"In my flat?"

"In your flat. It's still Christmas Eve, and it's been five minutes since we left."

Amy sighed and stood up, ignoring the screaming protests of her leg muscles. Her hands fidgeted and she looked down at them, not sure of how to explain herself.

"Doctor, when you came back, I wasn't going to come with you. But you promised me one trip, and… well, I couldn't just live the rest of my life and not have any idea of what _would_ have happened, you know? So I came with you, and… I don't know what I was expecting, but it wasn't that."

The Doctor was no longer looking at her, but suddenly seemed to find his shoes extremely interesting.

"It was amazing."

Those were the words Amy knew he needed to hear. The Doctor looked up at her, and the light had returned to his eyes. He did not look centuries old. As far as she was concerned, in this moment, he was as young as her.

"I thought we'd be running around through time, being daft and fixing stuff. But no… it's actually dangerous."

"Is that a problem?" he asked her quickly.

"I'm still here, aren't I?" Amy asked with a smirk, shrugging.

The Doctor gave an excitable laugh and straightened his bowtie importantly.

"I didn't want to come in the first place because I was cross with you. You knew that, but you asked me to come anyway. I think you knew I was going to do this, didn't you? Anyway, that's it, really. I suppose you wouldn't mind me sticking around for a bit, eh?"

Without waiting for the Doctor to say anything, Amy threw her arms around his neck and hugged him, burrowing her face into his shoulder. He snickered and did the same.

"Hey," Amy murmured into his jacket.

"What?"

"Gotcha."

They broke apart and Amy sighed, stretching her arms out above her head. "Y'know, as much as I'd love to go running off again, I haven't really slept in a long time."

The Doctor beamed at her. "Up those stairs over there. I'm sure there's a bedroom already waiting for you."

Amy grinned at him and disappeared into a faraway hallway, yawning rather loudly as she went. The Doctor pulled at the controls at the console once again, dematerialising the TARDIS from Amy's London flat on Christmas Eve to deep space, where their adventures were only just beginning.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Hello, everyone! This chapter has taken me ages to finish, sorry about that. Got loads on my plate at the moment with school starting to really get difficult. Anyway, here's the beginning of many, many adventures to come! And you know, reviews are always good motivators... ;)**

**PS. I do like the Ood, but I imagine that seeing them in real life would be... well, not fun, let's put it that way. xD**


	13. Chapter 13

London. 1708.

The deep green of Mary Baker's skirts trails across the brightness of the mid-winter snow. She comes here in mourning, to find peace in a time of loss. Little does she know that she will find something else entirely.

She sits at a new grave, consumed by her own thoughts, and does not hear its approach. It prowls slowly, almost cautiously, for one of its kind. When at last Mary Baker turns around, she hardly even has time to scream.

* * *

><p>Washington. 1976.<p>

Katie Richards, summer intern at her local museum, feels a great deal of pride. Another successful day of top-notch work behind her, she heads through the back staff exit and down the steps to the road, where she'll wait for the bus. She does not look around her as she goes.

The parking lot she has to cut through to get to the bus stop is rather large and quite a distance from the street, something she is not bothered by. The din from the street covers the slightest of sounds, so she has no time to look over her shoulder. She doesn't stand a chance.

Katie Richards never returns home again.

* * *

><p>The doors of the TARDIS whipped open and a leggy, redheaded girl came bounding through, her trainers clunking heavily against the floor. A man in a bowtie and tweed jacket hurdled through after her, and just in time - mere milliseconds after he threw himself to the floor, an arrow pierced through the air exactly where his head had been. The girl screamed and stumbled backwards to move out of its path, and the offending arrow landed on the staircase.<p>

Scrambling, the man hastily slammed the doors shut and leant against them, sighing. The girl, her mouth agape and her eyes wide, stared at the man with a horrified expression before bursting into laughter.

"Oh my god, you should have seen your face! You look ridiculous!" she cackled, her form bent over.

"Amy, that wasn't funny! We shouldn't even have been there in the first place! And I specifically told you not to go into the forest!"

Amy snorted and went up the staircase to the console, kicking the arrow aside. "Never could resist a keep-out sign. And don't even try that with me, mister. You enjoyed it too."

"Well... yeah," the Doctor grinned, shrugging slightly. With that, he hauled himself off of the floor and hurried up to meet Amy, who had plopped herself down in a jumpseat and began to re-tie her shoelaces. "Planning on some more running, Pond?"

She smirked, waves of red falling in front of her face. "'Course. Where next?"

"How about something less..."

"...deadly?"

"Yes, that. The Museum of Earth Civilizations on Kroon, the year 5613. Up for it?"

"Alright. Bit tame for you, isn't it?"

Tapping madly on the typewriter keys to his left, the Doctor peered over his shoulder at her. "I happen to like museums. They have lots of history to them... most of which is wrong."

"Oh, I get it. You just like having a chance to prove that you're cleverer than everyone."

"Oh, shut up."

* * *

><p>The police box materialised in a warmly-coloured room, parked precariously between two glass display cases. It appeared to have landed in some sort of castle or cathedral - it was made of aged brick and ornate detailing around windows and doors.<p>

The Doctor hopped excitedly out of the TARDIS, clapping his hands together eagerly whilst Amy looked more reverent and curious. She'd already learnt that, with the Doctor, nothing is ever as peaceful as it appears.

"Where are we, again?" Amy asked, crossing her arms at gazing up at the high ceiling. "We seem to do museums a lot. There's got to be other things out there, yeah? Aren't there any beaches in space?"

"They're there, remind me to take you to one someday. Space Florida - it's a date. Anyway, this is the planet Kroon, in the year 5613, like I said. The Museum of Earth Civilizations, to be specific."

"The last museum we went to had kidnapping cacti and restless tourists, Doctor."

"Oh, you're a ray of sunshine today. So, The Museum of Earth Civilizations has got something from pretty much every time period and location. You could walk through here for days and still not see it all. There's things your time never knew existed and things they don't yet know exist, all crammed into this lovely place. And near the exits, get this - they've got a little shop! I love a little shop- wait, do I? No, hang on-"

Before the Doctor could continue with his confusing monologue, a small man in an ill-fitting suit rushed over to them from the nearest doorway, dodging the display cases with ease.

"Excuse me," the man drawled, speaking in very poorly accented English, "what are you doing here? We're closed for renovations until Tuesday, no tourists allowed!"

The Doctor raised his hands up in a sign of surrender to the tiny man. "No, no, it's alright, look!"

He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out what looked like a small piece of leather, until he flipped it open - it protected nothing more than a small blank paper. The Doctor confidently held it up to meet the man's eyes, and spoke with a sudden air of authority. How exactly that would accomplish anything, Amy didn't know.

"We're from the... uh, Museum Inspection Squad, I'm sure you've heard about us. Codename's the Doctor, and this is... Agent Pond. Got to check everything's fine, you know."

The short man, who had clearly been prepared to usher the Doctor and Amy out of the building, seemed surprised at the flimsy bit of paper.

"O-oh," he stammered, clearing his throat, "My name is Doctor Kahn, curator of the museum. I did not know you were coming…I must have forgotten to write it down. Forgive me, I have a lot on my mind."

Before the Doctor could begin, Amy cut in. "That's alright! So, about this place. Things are running pretty well, yeah? Got everything sorted for the big day?"

"Yes, we do, ma'am. Everything is in place, nothing is amiss. We are expecting many visitors, so we need to do some more cleaning before we're completely done. Some of my staff are playing games with me and the artefacts here that I do not appreciate. Things are moved around during the night."

"Why would they do that? That's sort of sabotaging their own project, isn't it? Bit stupid," she said with a frown, sniggering slightly.

"I don't know, ma'am. Every day, I find the same thing in a different place. The same artefact from… London in 2011, that's where it's from. They were found in a basement, salvaged, and brought to us. They frighten some of the people, but they must have been important to the people of Earth."

"Could we have a look? We're… uh, sort of Earth enthusiasts," the Doctor piped up, "fans, I guess you could say, and we'd love to see. Wouldn't we, Agent Pond?"

"Oh! Yes, we would," Amy agreed, nodding vigorously.

Either the man believed that the two of them were having issues communicating in English like himself, or he was somewhat dim - without so much as a change in facial expression, he nodded and indicated that they should follow him. Moving around the TARDIS, he let them out of the room.

"What were you playing at with that bit of paper? It's some sort of weird, alien-y thing, yeah?" Amy whispered, moving closer to the Doctor to avoid catching the attention of Doctor Kahn.

"Oh, that? It's psychic paper. It says whatever I _want_ it to say. Handy for getting in wherever I please, whenever I please. Just think of what you want to appear as and _boom_, there you are!"

"Sort of like a space version of a get-out-of-jail-free Monopoly card? You can pretty much get out of anything?"

The Doctor did not respond to her, but instead stared intently forwards as they went through doorway after doorway. Amy wasn't buying it. Nobody in their right mind would find walls that interesting.

"You don't have any idea what that is, do you?"

He sniffed as though offended by such an accusation, and looked at her out of the corner of his eye. "'Course I do."

"No you don't."

He blinked and looked forwards again, but this time with a small smirk on his face.

* * *

><p>Doctor Kahn guided them through room after room of exquisite artefacts until he had brought the Doctor and Amy to another room, decorated to look like a small forest. There was a small section of forest guarded by a barrier to keep out guests, and upon seeing it, Doctor Kahn tossed up his hands in frustration.<p>

"It has been moved again! My staff, they do not listen!"

"What's supposed to be there, exactly?" Amy asked confusedly, a hint of laughter in her voice. She shouldn't have found something that stressed Doctor Kahn out so much funny, but she did. The fact that he didn't have any idea who was doing it (nor did he have any suspicions) made it all the more amusing.

The Doctor, however, didn't appear to find any fun in it. He also did not seem to be in the mood to talk - he was staring at the empty bit of the exhibit, eyes narrowed and a thoughtful expression on his face, his joyous demeanour extinguished. But _why_?

"I will have my colleague tell you. It is time for me to go on break anyway, so Laurie will guide you around, ma'am. And Doctor, if someone confesses, do not judge them so harshly. Most of my staff is young, and it is just a prank, I'm sure," Doctor Kahn assured them, looking pleadingly over at the Doctor.

The Doctor nodded courteously. "I'll remember. Thank you, Doctor Kahn."

Doctor Kahn nodded and went out a side door. The Doctor and Amy heard a short conversation, and a young girl came bounding out of the room Doctor Kahn had just entered. She was blonde, her hair tied tightly back in a long ponytail and thick black eye makeup darkening her eyes.

"Hey, I'm Laurie. Kahn said you lot are museum inspectors or something. You don't _look_ like it, but I won't judge. Anyway, I'm one of the archivists here, and Kahn said there was something you wanted to know."

Amy grinned at her. Laurie seemed playful and joking, much more fun that Doctor Kahn was. Amy did have to concentrate hard on her words when she spoke, though - Laurie had a thick Derby accent, spoke quickly and slurred some of her words together.

"Laurie, I'm the Doctor, and this is Amy," the Doctor told her. Amy gave a tiny wave from behind him. "Don't mind what we told Doctor Kahn, we're not really museum inspectors. Anyway, he led us here and told us that people were -"

"The Doctor? You're the Doctor? Oh, I've heard stories about you, mate. I heard you're a time traveller. Is that true?"

He smiled back at Laurie, and over his shoulder, she could see the redheaded girl nodding vigorously and mouthing 'yes'.

"Brilliant. The thing I know for sure about you is that you've come across pretty much every species in the universe, haven't you?"

"I've… met a fair few. Laurie, is there something you're not telling me? You haven't really answered our question yet," the Doctor prodded, looking intently into the girl's eyes.

"There's nothing," Laurie replied, a little quicker than she should have.

"Laurie, let me tell you something. In all my years of travelling time and space, I've gotten to know people. I can tell what they're thinking by their face, the look in their eyes, in the way they walk, even. I don't even have to ask you any questions to know that there's something bothering you. I'm the Doctor. I can help you. _We_," he added, looking over his shoulder at Amy with a tiny smile, "can help you."

Laurie gave a deep sigh and looked over to the door she'd entered through, as though making sure that nobody else was coming into the room before she spoke.

"We need your help with something. Well, _I_ need your help with something. Kahn doesn't know," she muttered, moving closer to the Doctor and Amy. Her face had gone gravely serious. "He thinks we're the ones doing it."

"Laurie, I can't help you if you don't tell me what's wrong."

Another sigh. "Doctor… what do you know of the Weeping Angels?"

* * *

><p>The first thing that Amy noticed was the look on the Doctor's face. He had been standing perfectly still before, but as soon as Laurie had mentioned the name of those <em>things<em> - Weeping Angels, was it? - he had frozen in his place, his eyes as wide as saucers. The words had absolutely no meaning to Amy, but the mere mention of such things seemed to have struck fear deep into the Doctor's heart.

Amy had to grab his arm and ask him what was wrong before he moved again. He immediately demanded that the three of them go looking for it, despite Laurie's protests that it would be difficult.

Laurie was leading them down a large staircase when Amy finally gathered up the strength to ask the Doctor why this was all such a big deal.

"Doctor, what's a Weeping Angel? Is that the thing that they said keeps moving around?"

He waited a brief moment before answering Amy, as though deliberating whether or not he should tell her the truth. And clearly, he wanted to avoid it.

"We shouldn't have come here, Amy. I've put you in terrible danger. _Again_," he stated, emphasizing the end of his words. It was then that Amy understood what that pain was that she saw in his eyes sometimes, when he thought she wasn't looking - it was _guilt_.

"Oi, enough with the self-loathing, mister," Amy snapped, lightly hitting his arm to lighten the tension, "_I__'__m_ here, _I_ know the risks, and _I__'__m_ not running away, am I? I don't plan on running way either, alright? So, the Weeping Angels… are they actually angels, or what?"

"They're creatures from the early universe. They're statues… when you see them, anyway. You keep your eyes on them, and they're statues - they're quantum-locked. But the second you look away…" the Doctor trailed off and did not finish his sentence, making Amy go cold. She didn't even need to ask what would happen. She knew that it was in no way a good thing.

"A-are they like those angels you see in cemeteries, then? You know, those massive stone things? I always thought they were kind of creepy, actually."

The Doctor nodded grimly. "They frequent cemeteries, yeah. All they do is feed on energy - potential energy, electrical energy, radiation, even time energy. They just _feed_, they don't even consider what they're doing."

"_Potential__energy?_"

"From the lives people would have led. That's what they do, the Angels. They displace you in time and space with one touch, sometimes hundreds of years off from where you should be. Very rarely can you find your way back, so you're essentially stuck where you end up. You _live_ to death."

It certainly wasn't what Amy had expected to hear. In all honesty, she wasn't sure what she _had_ been expecting, but it certainly was not that. Living to death - it was, possibly, more cruel than simply being killed. It was a wholly different sort of a death sentence.

"Thank god you lot know what you're doing," Laurie called to them as she hurried down the steps, "'cos I don't think anyone else does. Except maybe Katherine, she's got a good grip on them, actually. You'll like her, Doctor. She's kind of like you. Sort of like she's out of her element but she knows what she'd doing anyway, you know?"

The seemingly endless path of stairs finally ended, and Laurie, the Doctor and Amy were back on solid ground. The three turned at the sound of a creaking wooden door, and Laurie looked incredibly relieved.

"Ah, there's Katherine! Hey, I was just telling these two about you," she said cheerily to the woman.

Katherine turned out to be an older woman - nearly in her eighties, Amy guessed. She carried herself with the air of someone who is wiser than their years, something that came across as strange to Amy, considering how old the woman was. Katherine carried in her arms an aged, leather-bound book, and looked like she was quite busy.

"Laurie, love, who are they?" the old woman asked kindly, smiling at the Doctor and Amy. Looking at Katherine, Amy was instantly reminded of home. She thought of the elderly couple that ran the coffee shop in which the Doctor and her had first met. It felt like such a distant memory now, but as far as anyone back home was concerned, Amelia Pond was still sleeping under that cracked ceiling in her flat, awaiting Christmas morning.

"They told Kahn they were museum inspectors, so play along if he comes back. That's the Doctor, and that's Amy," she told them. As she named the two of them, each gave a friendly little wave at the woman, who gave a crinkled smile in return.

"Hello, dears. My, aren't you cold?" Katherine asked aloud, looking at Amy's skirt. Possibly against her better judgement, Amy had put on a billowy red jumper, her smallest black skirt and her trainers that morning, momentarily forgetting that running was her most frequent activity during the day.

Feeling all eyes in the room suddenly on her, Amy's face reddened to a shade not unlike her hair. Clearing her throat and casting a threatening glare at the Doctor, she calmly changed the subject, "Erm, no, I'm alright. So, Katherine, Laurie's told us you know about the Weeping Angels, yeah?"

"Oh. Oh! Yes, I certainly do. Come with me, I'll show you."

She snaked her way into the indiscreet staff room door that she had just come through, and indicated that everyone should follow her.

Amy looked over at the Doctor who was gazing at her in a way as though she was a puzzle - something he was trying to decipher. Amy threw him a cheeky smile, stuck out her tongue and followed Katherine and Laurie into the staff room, knowing the Doctor was following her.

* * *

><p>Katherine's little corner of the staff room was a magnificent hideaway from the world and a ride straight into the mysterious. Large boards of cork lined the tiny walls, covered with so many things that it was nearly impossible to find any leftover room. Shining pins held up documents that Amy was sure were of great importance. She could see various newspaper articles, photographs, several hand-drawn maps (they looked like they had been sketched out with a biro) and even some pieces of brightly coloured card with reminders of things to research deeper into. Amy imagined that it was like being in a miniature police station.<p>

Katherine, with an unnerving amount of spring in her step, heaved herself up to sit on the top of her desk, rifling through a stack of papers.

"Welcome to Weeping Angel headquarters," she announced to the group. She smiled knowingly at the looks of wonder on the Doctor and Amy's faces.

"What is all this?" Amy asked, her fingers dancing across the top of a spiral-bound notebook. "It's like… it's like you've been putting all this… _stuff_ together for ages."

"These are bits of information I found around Earth on our trips for artefacts. I went through newspapers and bins of documents to find anything I could about the Angels. See, it's tricky, because the people of Earth weren't exactly willing to believe in the paranormal back when a lot of these things happened. They assumed they were kidnappings, murders, and sometimes just people who ran away. Never did anyone think that there would be a bloody statue out for them. And, with each article, I try to find photos of victims. That's what all of those are," she told them, pointing to the board behind them. The Doctor and Amy turned to find a board on which every single inch was plastered a different. Some were men, some were women. And, as far as Amy could see, the Angels did not differentiate between the young and the old. There were even some faces of children smiling at her from in the group, making her stomach turn.

"And the notebooks?" the Doctor asked her, still looking at the faces that stared back at him.

"The same. Recordings of victims, possible hiding places, as many facts as I can gather. No images of the Angels, though. That's the worst mistake anyone can make. From what I can tell, that's how our Angel began."

"What, as an image?" Amy asked with a snort. "Does it crawl out of the frame or something?"

"Essentially, yes. Images capture the very essence of what's in them. Angels are special, in that once they're in an image, they can escape from them. It creates new life. Like I said, that's how our Angel came to be - from an image. A girl who'd come across them before had some images in her possession after she originally got rid of them, and she didn't know what the images could do."

"Does it say?"

"No. All it says is that she was a girl living in London that owned a store with the brother of her friend. There's no mention of what happened to her. It's all in this," Katherine told them, tossing the leather-bound book she'd been carrying down on the table.

It was then that Laurie decided to pipe up. "That's the book we found when we came across the Angel. We were just looking in the basement of an abandoned house for some common Earth objects when we found it. We'd never seen anything like it. It was staring straight at a mirror, which we didn't think was weird or anything at the time, but I guess it makes sense now. This journal was at its feet, and it's full of information about them. Passed down from person-to-person, by the look of it. I flipped through the journal as they were going through the journal, you know, but I didn't really think that someone should be looking at the stupid thing. But it didn't do anything. It just stood on the trolley, and the only move it made was to cover its eyes. We put it in the museum because we thought it was dormant."

"There's a difference between being dormant and being patient," the Doctor muttered darkly.

* * *

><p>After several more minutes of Katherine informing her group about what she had plastered up on her walls, she was ready to get to work.<p>

"So, the Angel has been moving around the museum. If this place is opening on Tuesday, it's likely evading us for now so it can get as many people as it can when the time comes. You were right, Doctor. There's _definitely_ a difference between being dormant and being patient."

"What should we do?" Laurie asked Katherine, the youthful face more serious than Amy had ever imagined it could be, "Do we keep the Angel in the museum after trapping it, or do we get it out of here but do it so it can't get anyone else?"

With a fleeting look at the Doctor, Katherine tapped her fingers on the desk. "As long as we can come up with something that'll keep the damn thing in its place, we can keep it here. Besides, if we know what it is, we've got it safely enclosed and we can properly advertise it to the public, we can turn this creature from hell into something good for once."

As Katherine and Laurie discussed the business opportunities of the Angel, Amy inched herself closer to the Doctor and began a hushed, whispered conversation with him.

"Is that really a good idea, Doctor? I mean, what if someone touches it?"

He sighed, sounding weary. "If they can keep the thing so that there's no way of touching it, then I suppose it's fine. All they can do is trap it anyway, they can't be killed."

Amy nodded, deliberating everything she'd learnt here at the museum so far. "And what's up with Katherine, eh? She's sort of cross. Has she got a personal vendetta against these things or something?"

"She might. Maybe someone in her family is one of the victims. That would certainly set anyone off."

Suddenly aware that they were the only ones still talking, the Doctor and Amy looked back at Katherine and Laurie, who were waiting for them.

"Done? Alright, let's get suited up, you two. It's time to hunt some angels."

Katherine went over to her desk and opened the bottom drawer, revealing bundles of equipment. Amy realised that this really was a high-tech operation of the utmost importance, especially to Katherine. She hadn't properly considered it before, but now that they were going headfirst into the problem, Amy really saw the risks. What if she was taken? What if something happened to any of the others - what if it was the Doctor?

Her reverie was broken by Katherine tossing her a torch, which she flicked on and off to test. It was extremely bright, leading Amy to realise that they were going to be in the dark. They would be wandering aimlessly in the pitch-black darkness, with an extremely dangerous, immortal creature lurking around with them.

Great.

* * *

><p>The ride in the lift down to the basement was an uncomfortable and, luckily, short one. The lift was cramped to begin with, and with four people carrying armfuls of communicators and torches, it was much worse. Katherine, who was usually a kindhearted old woman (something that Laurie insisted repeatedly on the walk to the lift), seemed to become bitter and serious like a soldier at the mere mention of the Weeping Angels. Katherine had explained to them on the way down that the Angel had once been stored down in the basement, and was often spotted hiding down there, making it the best place to begin their search.<p>

Once they all clamoured out of the lift, the supplies were dumped to the ground and Katherine rifled through them hurriedly. She called out names and tossed equipment, throwing long-lasting torches and communicators at everybody. Thankfully, there was still light in their part of the basement, but Laurie informed the Doctor and Amy that there was no lighting system further in, despite their intentions to install one.

"The communicators are synced up to one other person's communicator. Check who you're all paired with, and I'll finish up fitting in these extra batteries in torches," Katherine called out to everyone.

The Doctor nudged Amy and pointed at her communicator. Pulling his sonic screwdriver out of his pocket and checking that nobody else was looking, he pointed it at the device. There was a split second of the familiar high-pitched screech, and once it had ceased, the Doctor hastily shoved the device back into his jacket pocket.

"What was that?" Laurie asked, her nose crinkling up in confusion. "Was that you two?"

"Oh, that was me. I was just… whistling," the Doctor said hesitantly, peering over at Laurie with an unreadable expression. To prove his point, the Doctor began to whistle, doing his best impression of his sonic screwdriver in the process.

Laurie looked at him like he was insane and turned back to her communicator. Amy, on the other hand, burrowed her face against the Doctor's jacket to muffle her laughter. She would never get tired of people looking at him like that.

Katherine clapped then, gathering the attention of Laurie, the Doctor and Amy. "Alright, team, how're we going to go about this? I suggest we go into teams of two. I'm thinking that you, Doctor, should come with me, to check out the northern part of the basement. That's where the Angel originally was. We know the most about the Angel and you've encountered them more than I have. If it's there, we've got the best change to trap it. Now, Laurie and Amy, you take the Southern bit. It's never been seen down there, but checking to be sure wouldn't hurt."

"Aye-aye, cap'n," Laurie said cheekily, adding a salute for effect.

"Alright! Get to it!"

The Doctor and Katherine went off in the opposite direction, heading north towards where the Angel most likely was. Sighing, Amy flicked her torch on and patted Laurie on the shoulder.

"You ready?" she asked her kindly, hoping that Laurie at least was more optimistic than she was. It wasn't that she didn't like Laurie - it was more so that the two of them had been sent to search a section of the basement that Katherine was almost positive was empty. Being treated like they couldn't be trusted to do something important was what truly bothered Amy.

A crackle of static came from Amy's communicator, and the Doctor's voice pierced through the silence as the two women walked.

"Pond? You there?"

"I'm here. We're not dead, if that's what you're calling to ask, Doctor."

"Comforting. Pond, I'm calling to tell you to be careful. Searching for an Angel in the dark is like-"

"Searching for a needle in a haystack?" Laurie offered, making Amy shoot an amused smile at her.

"No, no, not a needle in a haystack," the Doctor protested, his voice taking on a muffled quality through the communicator, "it's more like an Angel in a haystack. An Angel in a haystack full of dark…ness. No, yours was better. Anyway, be careful."

"Yes, _dad_."

Amy heard the Doctor snicker and shut his communicator off, and she did the same, gripping it tightly in her hand to avoid dropping it. She wasn't going to take any chances - she'd already dropped her torch twice.

After about fifteen more minutes of walking, Laurie began to grumble.

"Should we just go back and find those two? There's nothing here, Amy, it was stupid of her to even make it come this way. Come on-"

"You go, I'll stay."

Amy covered her face with her elbow as Laurie shined her torch in her face. "What, are you mad?" she heard her screech, and from what Amy could see, Laurie was staring at her like she was. "You're in the dark, Amy, don't be daft-"

"Oh my god, you and the Doctor are the same, honestly. Look, I'll be _fine_. I just want to stay around here for a bit, alright? It's kind of peaceful, and believe me, I could do with some peace."

This was, in fact, far from the truth - Amy wanted to stay behind for far different reasons. She had meant what she'd said about Laurie and the Doctor, as both of them wouldn't let her do anything on her own. It _was_ highly unlikely that the Angel was on this side of the basement, but it was worth a shot. She could hardly even imagine the look on the Doctor's face if _she_ ended up being the one to find the creature!

"Well… if you're _sure_, Amy…"

"I am. Just go on, alright? I'll call the Doctor and tell him I'm here. Just _go!_"

Laurie nodded and smirked at her. Backing away from her slowly (giving Amy the chance to change her mind), she went around a corner and disappeared from view, leaving Amy alone with her torch and her thoughts.

She took a few steps before calling the Doctor's communicator, hoping that he'd turned his back on again.

"What's up, Pond?"

"From here… black stuff. I don't know. Anyway, found anything?"

"No… it's kind of wet around here, so if you fancy a swim, we'll come back after the Angel's gone."

"Very funny. So, do you want me coming back with you two?" Amy queried, genuinely wondering what his answer would be.

"I do, Pond. Splitting up is never a good idea, but I always seem to end up splitting up with people. I- wait, is that a torch?" the Doctor thought out loud, trailing off. Amy imagined that Laurie had moved rather quickly when on her own, desperate to find the others. It was no surprise that she'd gotten back to them already.

"That'll be Laurie," Amy informed him matter-of-factly. "I'm not with her."

"_What?_ Amelia, if this is supposed to be a joke, it's not funny. Where are you?" he demanded, his tone sharp and far from joking.

"Still south. I'm looking for it myself," she told him. "No use in lying, is there?"

"Amelia, I-"

"Don't think I can handle it on my own? Yeah, I can do it, Doctor. If Katherine thinks she can just make Laurie and I take the useless route, then she'll have another thing coming if I find the bloody Angel, won't she? Now, I'm going to need to be quiet if I want to attract it, so I'm turning this off. See you, Doctor."

"_Amy!_"

Amy shut off the communicator and trudged along, eventually coming across a door. She pulled it open quietly and hesitantly, realising that such a small space could be the perfect hiding spot for the Angel.

Seeing nothing directly ahead, Amy entered through the door and found herself in a dark, narrow room, water droplets falling from the high ceiling. The heavy doors that she'd just come through slammed shut, making Amy jump and instantly regret entering the room. With this regret came all the rest.

This was daft. Oh, how could she have done something so stupid? Even inside her own head, she couldn't even come up with the words to describe what she felt. She felt stupid for even believing such a feat as this was possible. She knew next to nothing about the Angels, and wouldn't admit it out loud, but was just as afraid as she was sure the rest of the team were.

Panic began to settle inside her, and Amy felt the adrenalin course through her veins. Hands shaking in their rush, Amy flicked the communicator back on as fast as she could manage and brought it up to her lips.

"Doctor? Doctor? Oh, god, please tell me you're there," she begged into dead air, praying that he would answer her. Like a miracle, she heard a faint click on the other end, and the Doctor's worried voice momentarily calmed her frantic heart.

"Amelia? Where are you? Are you alright?"

"No, no I'm not. I want you to hate me for this, Doctor, because I sure as hell hate myself. Please, please help me, oh god…"

"Amelia, where are you? I can't help you if I don't know exactly where you are."

"I-"

Something behind Amy creaked, making her blood run cold. Her mind nearly shut down - this was it. The Angel was upon her. Cornered and alone in the dark, she was trapped. And all because she'd wanted to be independent Amy Pond. Strong, doesn't-need-anyone Amy Pond. She had tried to be an Amy Pond that didn't need the Doctor telling her what to do. She should have believed him, she realised. Unfortunately, it was already too late for that.

She gulped, giving a ragged and shaky breath. "Just forget it, Doctor. When I'm gone, round the Angel up, alright? Just get everyone home and don't let this happen to anyone else."

"What?"

"It's here. I just heard it behind me," Amy whispered against the cold metal of the communicator, shutting her eyes and realising what was about to happen to her.

"It can't be," he muttered back. "Amy, no, it can't be." She could almost hear the pain in the Doctor's voice. She didn't even need to see his face to know that her words had just made his stomach plummet.

"I know I told you to help me, but… if you come looking for me, it'll get you, too. I don't want it to take you. Just leave me here and save the day like you always do, alright? I'll just be a story to Katherine and Laurie. Just leave me," she repeated, knowing that there was no other way to get her point across to the Doctor.

"See, that's not going to happen just yet, Amy Pond, because I'm _not_going to leave you there. I don't work like that."

"You have to. I can't get out of here. But I understand," Amy murmured into the communicator, her lips barely able to form the words that she knew they were both thinking.

Amy would not have ever considered herself to be the type to sacrifice herself for the greater good. But it was, as far as she could see, the only solution. She would go willingly, with as much dignity as one could have as they walked to their certain demise. She did not want to die alone and afraid - but then again, so few do.

"I'm sorry I didn't listen to you," she told him, her voice beginning to break, "I should have. I always think I know better. God, I'm such an idiot… and look, now I'm admitting it you! Yes, Doctor, you're hearing it right. You were right and I was wrong." She paused, wondering what she should say with her final moments. "Tell my family where I've gone, Doctor. Tell Daisy. Please."

"Amy-"

The rest of his words were cut off by the sound of fizzling electricity - her torch was going out, and fast. Amy assumed that was the Angel's doing. With the Angel feeding off of her torch, and with the room cloaked in darkness, she wouldn't even see the creature coming. Not quick enough, anyway.

"Bye, spaceman," Amy choked out, her voice wobbling before she clicked the communicator off.

With her tearful last words resonating in the minds in the both of them, and the remaining power in the torch draining out, Amy and the rest of the small room were plunged into darkness.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: I apologize, dear readers, for keeping you all in the dark for so long (er, mind the pun)! School is beginning to wind down before Christmas break begins next week, so thankfully I've got enough time to do some more chapters before the Christmas chapter. But oh my, Amy's gotten herself into a bit of a bind, hasn't she? As always, your reviews have been lovely, so thank you. And you know, they do speed up the process... ;)**


	14. Chapter 14

Amy had wondered what it would be like, hurdling through time and space with no TARDIS to protect her. She had expected it to feel something like being pulled in every direction at once, forever hurdling in an endless maze of time energy. Certainly nothing like this.

She felt nothing. Absolutely nothing.

Maybe she was dead. Was this what it felt like? Maybe the angel's touch had gone wrong, and she'd been killed instead of displaced. The rapid beating of her heart muffled any other sounds around her, and as far as she could hear, she was in complete silence.

Could she call the Doctor from... wherever she was? If she was alone, talking to him would make this adjustment easier. But how much would that destroy him, speaking to his dead companion?

Swallowing, - it still felt normal to her - her finger flicked on the power button once again.

"Hello? Doctor?"

"Amy, what the hell are you doing?" the Doctor's voice called back. She could tell he was angry with her, but that wasn't something that worried her at the moment. She was on her own, but in a way, he was here with her, and that was all that really mattered.

"Doctor, I don't know where I am. It's still dark, but I-I don't see the Angel."

"Amy, I need you to look carefully around - are you still in the basement?"

Her heart calming, Amy began to listen closely to her surroundings. There it was - the faint dripping of water coming from overhead. By some miracle, she hadn't moved an inch since her torch had flickered out. She had, however, absolutely no way of seeing at all. It was the sort of terrifying darkness where you can't even see your own hand in front of you. It would induce crippling panic if she wasn't careful - and frankly, that was the last thing she needed.

"I think I am. Doctor, I don't understand. I'm in the basement, but… the Angel, it was behind me. How am I still here?" she asked. She was only partially aware that in her relief, her voice had gone up an octave.

"If you were right, and that _was_ an Angel behind you… then it's still there."

Amy was only partially aware that she'd dropped her now-dead torch to the ground. She thought she'd take the crippling panic over the Angel.

* * *

><p>Laurie, once she'd met up once again with Katherine and the Doctor, was greeted with a lukewarm welcome. She received the dirtiest of glares from the Doctor, and an indifferent look from Katherine.<p>

The torches of the group were still brightly lit, allowing Laurie to find a relatively clean expanse of floor to sit down on. The Doctor, who had begun pacing around the area they'd stopped at, was grumbling something under his breath.

"Ideas, Doctor?" Katherine asked from her place next to Laurie, "I mean, we've got the girl locked in with an Angel. We don't have any time to was-"

"I know that," he growled back at her, momentarily startling Laurie. She hadn't been aware that such a young looking man could look so ferocious at the same time. "You don't think I know that? It's my fault she's locked in there in the first place, and unless you've got any ideas yourself, shut up for a moment, I'm trying to think."

"But-"

"Shut up."

Judging by the look of displeasure on the old woman's face, she didn't take kindly to being spoken to that way. Katherine sighed and closed her eyes, looking like she was in deep thought. Laurie focused her attention back on the Doctor, her mind trying to fit together a solution for him. But then, like magic, it clicked.

"She's got to keep going anyway, mate."

The Doctor spun on his heels to look at her, his expression still gloomy, but somewhat curious. He raised an eyebrow at her, as though that was a ridiculous thing to say.

"The Angel is there, Laurie, and I'm not having Amy walking around if it's there with her. We need to get in there with her and get the Angel-"

"Oh my god, just listen! Look, the damn thing's just trying to play with her, but she's got to get out, right? It'll kill her if she just stays there, and you know it, but she can't make a mistake or anything or it's gonna get her. She's got to be perfect."

The Doctor gave a laugh of frustrated disbelief. "I can't believe you think that'll work."

"You got anything else?" Laurie countered, her tone challenging him.

A sigh. "No. She's going to have to keep going," he finally admitted. Laurie nodded at his words. "And she's got to walk like she can see," he continued. "She's in the dark, and if it realises she can't see, it's going to make it harder for her. She has to walk like she can see."

* * *

><p>The absence of the Doctor's voice was terrifying her. The Angel was still there in the pitch black with her, and she didn't even have the Doctor's help. She was going to have to handle this one on her own. Just as she'd wanted. Though, she'd begun to realise that this was perhaps not what she'd wanted at all.<p>

"Amy? We know what you have to do," the Doctor's voice sounded, coming out of nowhere once again.

"Out with it, mister. I want out of here," Amy sputtered as she brought her lips to her communicator, her eyes still giving futile attempts to see something in the emptiness in front of her.

"Now, Amy, I want you to breathe in and out slowly, because this is going to sound really mad. And I mean _really_ mad. As in, worse than anything I've told you yet before."

"…I'm breathing. What do I have to do?"

"You're going to have to walk like you can see," he told her, speaking without any emotion to his voice. It was so she wouldn't be as frightened, Amy supposed. If he sounded scared, it was only going to make it worse for her.

"I… what?"

"Amy, the only reason you're alive is because the Angel knows that you're alone and afraid. It's playing games with you. As far as we know, it still thinks you can see in the dark, and it's waiting for you to make a mistake. That's when it will attack. But Amy, you can't stand there forever, and you're going to have to move at some point. You have to be quick and as accurate as you can… and you have to pretend you can see. By the way, I'm sending a bit of software to your communicator. It'll let you know when there's something in your way. Can you turn on the spot? Once the buzzing sounds like my screwdriver, you know you're going in the right direction."

Amy turned slowly on the spot, her long legs struggling to keep straight as her knees shook with fear. Once the familiar sound of a sonic screwdriver filled the air, Amy stopped and stood still. She knew she was meant to start her walk to freedom, but terror was beginning to creep inside of her. She was about to walk into the pitch black with nothing more than a buzzing sound to guide her. She didn't even know how large the room was - or better yet, whether she was in a room or a hallway. A hallway could possibly mean another exit - much more positive.

"You're not moving. Amy, I'm sorry, but you have to move _now_. You have to do this," the Doctor growled through his communicator. "Amy, _please_."

Taking a large gulp of air, Amy let the sound of the sonic screwdriver guide her on her path.

* * *

><p>Laurie had been standing directly beside the Doctor as he'd spoken to Amy, and had waited with bated breath. She could hardly even imagine how difficult the situation must have been for Amy. Walking unwillingly into the unknown was absolutely beyond her.<p>

"She's gonna be okay, right?" she asked the Doctor. She wasn't sure why she was really asking - she only wanted one specific answer.

The Doctor gave a tiny, almost unnoticeable smile. "I hope so. She's Amelia Pond, secretary extraordinaire. She's been in difficult situations before. Though, to be honest, this one _has_ been the worst so far," he admitted.

"Not _really_ helping, mate."

"Yeah, sorry. Laurie, where's Katherine gone?"

Laurie turned around and flashed her torch at the wall behind them. To her great surprise, Katherine was not sitting on the floor as she had been moments before. The Doctor gave a large, dramatic sigh and went to lean against the wall.

"Why is it so hard for you people to just stay in one place? Honestly, just stay there, don't wander off! I think I used to say that. Yeah, don't wander off. I'll use that again. Remember that for me, Laurie."

"Erm… alright. D'you think she's gone off to help Amy or something?"

"She might have. I suppose the only thing to do at the moment is wait, wouldn't you say?"

"Alright. I've been meaning to take a nap for hours now."

Unbeknownst to everyone else, Katherine had snuck back into the museum, and more specifically, back to her desk. Whilst sitting on the basement floor and thinking, she had remembered having maps of the building buried somewhere deep in her files. If she could find them, they could locate Amy much quicker. And with Amy would come her true prize: the Weeping Angel.

* * *

><p>Amy didn't think that she'd ever been so afraid of making a mistake in her life. She'd managed to walk for what felt like several minutes without tripping over anything, but for how much longer could she last?<p>

Amy was about to go around a corner when the high screeching of her communicator broke through the air. She stopped immediately, and turned on the spot. There was a loud buzz - the Angel was with her.

"Amy? The Angel is with you now. Remember what I told you. When the buzzing goes quieter, you've got room to move. Amy, I'm sorry, but for the most part, you've got to do this on your own."

"I understand. I'll see you soon, alright?"

"You'd better."

Moving extremely carefully, Amy turned, but was faced with an even larger buzz. She turned the opposite way - she was met with buzzing once again. She knew that there certainly weren't two of the Angels, so the Angel must have been moving around to confuse her. Amy's pulse began to quicken. She wasn't going to be able to escape.

That was all she needed to know.

Spinning quickly to find the faintest buzzing in her communicator that she could, Amy broke into a run. She hurried at a fast pace, but she was all too aware that the Angel was quicker. All she could do was have hope that fleeing would get her out. But, before she could get much farther, the toe of one of Amy's shoes caught on a raised bit of flooring and she dropped to the floor, her hands scraping against the rough ground.

Where was the communicator? It must have flown out of her hand as she'd tripped. Amy's reached her arms out desperately to try to locate it, but for the life of her, she could not feel it anywhere around her.

"Doctor? Doctor? I can't find the communicator!" Amy cried into the darkness, praying that if the communicator was still on, he could hear her voice. As she spoke, she heard a noise behind her, and quickly became frantic.

"Doctor?" she whimpered, her voice cracking.

Here it was - the end. Fear gripped at her so hard she felt as though she was about to choke, her throat was so constricted. Squeezing her eyes shut, she called out one last time.

"Doctor!"

"Amy?"

Who was that? That didn't sound anything like the Doctor. It sounded more like… a woman. And an older woman, at that. Was Katherine the one who had come to save her?

Amy opened her eyes and blinked at the bright light of a torch shined directly in her eyes. It _was_ Katherine, only she wasn't even looking in Amy's direction. Her eyes were locked on something behind Amy. Dragging herself into a sitting position, Amy saw that the Angel had been mere inches from the back of her head.

"A dark basement with an Angel is no place for a lady. Come on, run out behind me. I'll be right after you."

Amy didn't need to be told twice. Stumbling upwards, Amy hurried through the doorway Katherine had come from and waited for her to follow. She could hardly even make sense of her own emotions, she was simply a jumble of feelings. Relief at being saved. Remnants of terror at her situation. Shock at how close she'd been to death. Regret at the stupidity of her actions.

Katherine came rushing out of the room and slammed the door closed behind her. She gave Amy a bright, kind smile, something Amy hadn't gotten from her in several hours.

"Your friend is beside himself, Amy. I wouldn't be surprised if Laurie's run off now too, just to get away from him. Bit of a self-loather, isn't he?"

Amy had to laugh. That sounded exactly like the Doctor. "Yep, that'd be him. How did you know where to find me?"

"We knew you were in the opposite side of the basement, and you told the Doctor something about being through a doorway. I've got maps of this whole building, and I figured out pretty quickly where you'd be, going by how long you'd been gone."

"That's brilliant! I thought nobody was going to come back for me"

"We wouldn't have left you. Nor would we have left the Angel," Katherine added, her tone a bit more serious now.

"B-but you _did_ just leave the Angel. Why did you do that if you want to trap it?"

"Oh, Amy. If there's one thing I've learnt about the Weeping Angels, it's that you need to give them a bit of time. If you just be patient and wait for a bit, they'll come to _you_."

"But… I thought it was hiding until Tuesday?"

"Yes, it's definitely waiting. But four people just willingly went out looking for it. Even the most patient of Angels wouldn't pass that up."

Not needing to ask anything more on the subject, Amy let Katherine fall silent and the two of them walked without saying anything else. The uncomfortable quiet between Amy and Katherine ceased as they heard a pair of voices ahead and saw the faint light of two torches far off in the distance. Several more steps let the two of them know that they had finally met back up with the Doctor and Laurie. Suddenly aware of another light coming from behind him, he turned to see who was coming up behind them. Amy smiled widely at him (as best as she could, given how shaken she still felt over her situation).

The Doctor was straight ahead, looking as though the weight of the world had just been lifted from his shoulders. Breaking into a full-pelt run, Amy launched herself at the Doctor and grabbed him, her arms latching so tightly to him that they both feared he would snap in two. She gave a tiny, strangled sob of relief and with a single, sweeping motion, she brought her lips to his cheek and kissed him, her arms still wrapped like cords around his neck. She'd never been so glad to see her bowtie-wearing idiot.

Disentangling herself, Amy realised she wasn't even touching the ground, and proceeded with lowering herself back down. Their joyous reunion ended with Amy giving the Doctor a smack on the arm.

"I don't know why I thought I could do that on my own. Don't ever let me do something that stupid again," she ordered, patting his arm in the place she'd hit it.

"If you two are done now, we've got something else to worry about," Laurie said rather loudly, giving the Doctor and Amy a sly grin. "There's an Angel running about, remember?"

"Right. Where are we going?"

"Back upstairs," Katherine told her, shining her torch in her direction. "It's too hard to trap it down here. Too dangerous. Right, Doctor, Laurie, Amy - follow me. We've got to find Kahn."

* * *

><p>The four of them went cautiously back through the darkness with the remaining torches and communicators until they reached the lift, and crammed themselves inside of it. Once they were back in the museum, they all took deep breaths of much fresher air and headed to the staff room, looking for Doctor Kahn.<p>

He was standing in front of a filing cabinet, fingers dancing over a row of folders as they entered the room. Doctor Kahn looked up at them and shut the cabinet drawer, a confused look on his face.

"What are you all doing in here?"

"We have to explain something to you," Laurie answered him, sitting down on top of a table beside the filing cabinet. "D'you know how that statue has been moving around the museum, and you think it's been someone on staff that's been moving it?"

"Yes. Laurie, do you mean to tell me that you have been the one moving it?"

"No. Nobody's been moving it at all. It's been moving on its own, mate," she told him bluntly. "No one's been touching it."

Before he could become any more confused than they were sure he already was, Katherine moved forward and proceeded to tell him about the Weeping Angels. However, she left parts of her story out - their voyage down to the basements and Amy's near death, her miniature Weeping Angel headquarters at her desk, and worst of all, their suspicions about why the Angel was avoiding capture.

"That is… remarkable. It explains everything, though. Thank you all for letting me know."

"We had to, sir. Because, if we're going to be honest with you, we think the Angel will be on its way up here soon, and we need to have everyone be prepared. Remember what we told you, Doctor Kahn. You must look at it without blinking, but you musn't look at its eyes. Clear?"

"Yes, thank you, Katherine. Where do we go now?"

"The front hall. Now, we'll wait for it to come to us. There's no other way," Katherine told him grimly. The final showdown was certainly coming, there was no avoiding it.

"Alright. Agent Pond? Doctor?"

It took a moment for Amy and the Doctor to realise that Doctor Kahn was talking to them, as they had momentarily forgotten all about their 'museum inspector' charade.

"Erm... yes?" Amy asked, putting on a tiny smile.

"Please do not put this on our record. We still want people to visit."

"Oh! Oh, of course. Don't worry," Amy assured him. Doctor Kahn breathed a sigh of relief, and Amy winked at the Doctor.

* * *

><p>The five of them went to stand in the front hall of the museum, waiting for a stone statue to make its way to them. Amy thought that the entire thing sounded hopelessly mad, but yet, every part of it was true. Not to mention terrifying.<p>

"Doctor, I see it!" Amy suddenly yelped, pointing urgently towards dark shadows to her left. She was certainly correct - the Angel stood there, staring straight towards them with no definable expression. It was marvellous, Amy thought, that a stone statue could manage to look so malevolent.

"I know what to do!" Katherine suddenly exclaimed, her crinkly smile growing wide. "The four of you, can you watch it for a moment? I know how to trap it. I'll be right back."

Before the four of them could even give Katherine their answer, Katherine had run off to the right - and straight into a bathroom.

"What the hell is she doing?" Laurie yelled out, careful to keep her eyes on the Angel in case the others weren't.

"I don't know, but can you and Doctor Kahn keep watching the Angel for a moment? I need to show Amy something."

"Now?" Doctor Kahn asked him, looking worried. "Doctor, we need everyone to watch the Angel. What if we can't do it?"

"Oh, come on, you'll be fine. We'll just be a second!" he insisted. Grabbing Amy's arm, the Doctor pulled her into the staff room and quickly shut the door behind them.

"What the hell _are_ you doing? Doctor, this had _better_ be important, I swear-"

"Amy, read this and tell me if you think of the same thing I do," the Doctor said suddenly, tossing Katherine's precious journal in her direction. Amy caught it with ease and flipped through it, enchanted by the careful placement of each piece of information.

"What, the whole thing? _Now?_"

"Read what's tucked into the back cover," he added, hunched over her desk in search of something.

She nodded to no one in particular and flipped through the yellowing pages until she'd reached the back cover. Amy's breath caught in her throat when she began to read the scrap of a page in front of her.

_"LOCAL GIRL, 17, DISAPPEARS IN BROAD DAYLIGHT_

_Katherine Richards, a Washington native known by family and friends as Katie, disappeared early Monday afternoon. Richards was working as an intern at- (Story continues on page 19)"_

There was no end of the article pasted beside the tiny fragment. This was the only proof of the girl's disappearance. Amy was struck by the article, but it was not the age of the girl, or the grief she was sure her family had gone through - it was her name.

Katherine.

The pieces began to fall into place in Amy's mind. This article was small, but explained so much to her - she now understood why Katherine had devoted her career (and a large portion of her life) to the hunt of the Angels - it _was_a personal vendetta, just as she'd suspected. And it definitely explained why Katherine was so bitter about them.

"She's a victim?" Amy asked, looking back up at the Doctor, absolutely astounded.

"Precisely. Don't you see, Amy? She's taken the time to cut that article out, but shoved it in the back cover. Strange, isn't it? So, that makes me think she's got the information there, in case anyone ever asks, but it's still hidden. She's trying to keep it a secret, for the most part. That's why the article isn't pasted on one of the pages. She was one of the victims, and she's probably bitter about it. If she can keep massive secrets like that, I wonder if she's got anything else she keeps covered up."

"And that's why you're going through her papers?"

"Yup. Well, that, and I've got nothing else to go on, and snooping around is always a start," he called out over the rustle of papers. Amy had to dodge around the thick booklets and folders that went flying over the Doctor's shoulders in his haste to search, but tried to pick them up as best she could. Making Katherine angry wasn't the right way to go about this.

"Can you not toss everything around? She's not gonna tell us anything if you trash her office," Amy cried out, narrowly missing being hit by a particularly large volume.

Ignoring her completely, the Doctor straightened himself up and held in his hands a book - this one looked similar to the brown leather-bound book Amy had already seen, but this one was different. The cover of it was a dark green, and it was not nearly as worn as that of the other journal.

"Ah, here we are. Katherine's private journal."

"Are you mad? You can't read someone's private journal," Amy spluttered, trying to grab it from his hands. "That's hers, put it back before someone comes in here!"

The Doctor, not willing to give in to her that easily, resisted and wrenched it right back. "We have a right to know what's going on, Amy. You of all people should realise that. You nearly died-"

The Doctor stopped before finishing his sentence as the both of them stared, openmouthed, at the floor. In their haste to grab the offending journal from one another, another loose bit of paper fell from the book and fluttered to the ground.

"What's with her and leaving papers floating everywhere, eh?" Amy murmured as both her and the Doctor lowered themselves to the ground to get a better look at the sheet.

"Alright, I've found a mirror, but- what are you doing?"

Unfortunately, the Doctor and Amy hadn't realised that Katherine has snuck her way back into the room. Whirling around, they found her standing shocked in the doorway, clutching a large piece of mirror.

Scrambling to stand back up, Amy jumped backwards and leant against the wall, adjusting her hair. "Erm, nothing," she said hastily, eyes still on Katherine.

The Doctor, however, had barely moved. He picked up the paper and journal and stood back up, looking seriously at the woman that was staring at him.

"Kahn and Laurie told me you two were in here. _What are you doing_?" Katherine repeated.

"We know, Katherine. We know what happened to you," the Doctor stated, ignoring her question.

In that instant, Katherine's face had changed completely. She had been, when she had first met the Doctor and Amy, a charming, warm woman. And she had been afterwards in the basements, but with a more severe, serious demeanour. Now, standing before them with disbelief plastered on her face, the mask that Katherine Richards had put together unravelled completely. Amy thought that she suddenly looked far more frail. So much more… lonely.

Katherine stared back at the Doctor, and then looked at Amy with sad eyes. Perhaps she was reminded of her own youth, looking at the redhead in front of her.

"I was just a girl," Katherine began, "when it took me. I lived in Washington when I was a teenager. Back in the 1970's. It seems… so long ago, now. As far as everyone else is concerned, it was too far in the past for me. It was summertime, I remember that. I was an intern at a museum, doing odd jobs and helping around. I was always so interested in history and the mysteries that came with it. I thought it was a great start. All my friends thought I was an idiot for doing it," she said with a laugh. "They thought I should have spent my summer relaxing and enjoying the weather. I wish I'd listened to them now. All I can remember about it was how warm the wind was in the afternoons. It was so sweet. So fresh."

Amy felt a deep pang of sadness for the woman. It was absolutely cruel for her to have had to endure such things at such a young age. Would she ever end up the same one day? Would something happen that would cause her to regret not savouring her life? Would she one day forget the faces of the people in her life, their voices, and everything she held dear? Just as Katherine had done?

"I barely even felt it touch me. Next thing I knew I was here on Kroon. Do you know how hard it is to start a new life when you're still a child? When you could hardly even manage on your own back at home, let alone a life on another planet? I took up a job here at the museum, because it was really the only thing I knew how to do. They hired me because I knew more about Earth than anyone they'd ever come across before. I worked from early morning to late afternoon, and once everyone was gone, I slept under my desk. I learned how to avoid the night guards and cleaners quite quickly. I was like a criminal, the way I snuck around."

"Nobody ever found you?" Amy piped up.

"Surprisingly, no. It was all too easy, but I was never found out. I even took food from people's leftover lunches. After a while, I had enough saved up that I could buy myself some proper clothes and things, too. I've got my own house now, of course. It took some time, but everything was sorted out."

"What I don't fully understand, Katherine, is why you never told anyone," the Doctor murmured, hands clasped tightly together in front of him. "Why was it so important that you kept it a secret?"

Katherine sighed and lowered herself into a nearby chair. "It wasn't _really_ a secret. Not in the way you mean it. I never outright volunteered the information, but if anyone had ever asked, I wouldn't have hidden it. All I wanted from the moment I was displaced was to know _why_ it happened. That's also why I'm still here today. I want to know everything there is to know about those Angels, and to prevent what happened to me from happening to anyone else, if possible. It is both a life and death sentence, Doctor."

"I understand. But if you weren't hiding that… what _were_ you hiding? Oh, yes, I know, you're going to tell me you don't know what I'm talking about. But you _do_, don't you? If you can hide a bombshell like that one, there's got to be other things you've kept hush-hush."

The woman had opened her mouth to argue with him, but must have thought better of it, as she suddenly closed it and stared down at the ground. Her hands fidgeted on the mirror as she spoke.

"You know how we find our artefacts, don't you, Doctor? We travel to Earth in search of things long abandoned. That's how I put together my journal. I find old newspapers with stories that strike me. Stories that don't have any explanation. I save them. I sympathise with the people in them, _because I know how it feels_."

She gave a deep sigh. "Months ago, I found one in particular that I never told anyone about. It's on that piece of paper you have in your hands."

Amy moved from her place against the wall and went towards the Doctor. Together, they looked down at the sheet, and Amy's breath caught in her throat. The majority of the piece, including the title, was torn off, but Amy could see enough of it that she understood why Katherine had hidden it. Another name familiar to her dotted the yellowing page. She could scarcely believe what she saw. Another person had been moved through time, but this time, it was into the past. Dropped into the middle of the English countryside in the 1900's.

"He doesn't know," Katherine whispered out loud as they read.

Doctor Kahn was going to disappear.

"Time can be rewritten, Amy, he doesn't have to disappear today. We can stop this," the Doctor told Amy hurriedly, whirling around to look at her.

"How can we?" Amy asked him, her voice raising slightly. "Look at it, Doctor. He's already gone, and at this point, he's technically already dead. He's going to disappear!"

The Doctor opened his mouth to answer, but instead, his eyes went wide, and he uttered only a quiet, "Oh my god." He threw the journal and the article about Doctor Kahn down on the table and hurried over to the door.

"Doctor, what is it?"

"We can't leave him alone with the Angel!" he yelled over his shoulder, grabbing the door handle. However, before he had even been able to turn the handle and open the door, a high pitched scream came from the front hall. The Doctor wrenched the door open, and Amy and Katherine ran out after him.

Laurie stood alone in front of them, her eyes fixed on the Angel as tears began to cloud her eyes. "Help me!" she cried out, her need to blink becoming ever stronger.

Katherine and Amy took her place and elbowed her out of the way. Laurie stumbled into the Doctor and he wrapped his arms around her, rocking her as she cried.

"I h-had to b-blink so I told h-him to watch it, and t-the n-next thing I k-knew, he was g-g-gone," Laurie stammered, breaking into light sobs at the end of her sentence.

"Ssh, Laurie. It wasn't your fault. It's alright, it's over now," the Doctor cooed, patting her head comfortingly. "It's alright."

"I suppose he's gone to Earth now, hasn't he?" Katherine asked, a deep sadness in her voice. "I should have said something to him. He could have been more careful."

Laurie sniffed and moved away from the Doctor, wiping at her eyes. The Doctor rubbed at her back as he spoke to Katherine. "It's more likely that your telling him wouldn't have made any difference at all, Katherine. He blinked, and that's that. Don't be hard on yourself. I know how difficult it was for you to readjust, but Doctor Kahn is older now than you were then. It'll be easier for him to adjust. Remember that."

She nodded. "Doctor, it's time we trapped this once and for all. Can you watch the Angel for me again, just for a moment? If I go get a trolley from the supply cupboard, we can move the Angel."

Katherine hurried off and returned moments later with a bright red trolley, wheeling it out of a nearby cupboard and looking rather pleased with herself. She came up behind the Angel with it and parked it directly against it.

"Alright, I've got an idea. I have a mirror and a trolley. We can trap it in the staff room. I don't care any longer about whether or not the public sees it, I just don't want it going near anyone else ever again. We can fix this mirror to a wall and position the Angel right in front of it. It'll see its own reflection and it'll be trapped for eternity. Doctor, any ideas on how to fix the mirror to the wall?"

"Got it covered," the Doctor told her, patting his jacket pocket as he looked up at the Angel. "Amy, can you stay with Laurie? We'll be back in a moment."

He then grabbed the piece of mirror from Katherine's hands and held it up to the Angel's eyes, ready to finally fix their problem.

The next few minutes went by slowly. Katherine and the Doctor moved slowly as they began to trap the Angel. Katherine had to be careful not to push the Angel too far with the trolley, so that she wouldn't hit the Doctor with it. Likewise, the Doctor had to be careful to move his arms as little as possible, so that the Angel would be continually looking at the mirror.

Eventually, the two of them pushed it into the back of the staff room (navigating the corners of the little room was the most difficult part of their effort). The Doctor placed the mirror on the wall with one hand and with the other, fished his sonic screwdriver out of his pocket. He pointed it at the mirror, and after hearing a loud banging sound coming from the wall, he pocketed it once again.

"There, that should hold it. But, whatever you do, Katherine, make sure nobody ever puts anything in front of the mirror or in front of the Angel's eyes. Or even touches the Angel, for that matter. The last thing you need is more problems because of this thing," he said, pointing at it with his thumb.

"Thank you, Doctor. You and Miss Pond have both been a great help to us, believe me."

"Oh, it's no problem, Katherine," he told her. He gave her a quick hug, and left her in the staff room to go find Amy. She was still with Laurie, and turned to look when the Doctor entered the front hall once again.

"Come along, Pond. Our work here is done."

Laurie, still incredibly shaken from what had happened to Doctor Kahn, turned and gave Amy a hug. "Thank you, Amy."

Amy pulled back and nodded sadly at her, patting her arm. She then stood up and went to the Doctor. Both waving to Laurie, they went back up the large staircase and headed towards the room where the TARDIS sat waiting for them.

As he opened the TARDIS doors and went inside, the Doctor did not notice Amy's silence. She hadn't said a word since they had been standing in the staff room together. Once inside, Amy moved to go up the console and promptly sat herself down.

* * *

><p>Amy had been sitting for nearly half an hour on one of the jumpseats with a faraway look on her face. The Doctor, attempting to avoid an overemotional outburst, went down to fix some wiring under the console. Upon realising that she was seated in the exact same position on the glass floor above him, he prepared himself and went back to the console.<p>

She was staring straight at the time rotor and only moved when she heard the Doctor come near. She turned slightly to look at him, and for the first time, the Doctor saw that her face looked… drawn.

"I can't believe we just walked into that museum, changed everyone's lives forever and just strolled out again like we owned the place, Doctor. You said that time can be rewritten," she told him simply. "It wasn't. Doctor Kahn disappeared anyway."

"Time _can_ be rewritten, Amy. Sometimes it can't. This time, it couldn't have been. We should have seen that. But just because time can't be changed doesn't necessarily make it bad, or mean everything we did was in vain. He might have lived a good life on Kroon, or he might not have. The same goes for Earth. We don't know, Amy, but you know he was okay. You saw that article."

"I just want to know if he was okay, in the end. You know, was he happy?" Amy asked. "D'you think he was?"

"Why don't we go and see?"

When Amy stepped out of the TARDIS, a beautiful sight met her eyes. They had landed in the middle of a field in the countryside, and directly in front of them was a cosy-looking little cottage. A woman was sitting in the grass with two little girls, the three of them wearing sweeping, feminine dresses.

"This is where Doctor Kahn ended up," the Doctor whispered in Amy's ear as he stood behind her.

Amy let out a sharp gasp and her eyes went wide. The Doctor, unsure of what exactly the extreme reaction was for, looked at her, and back to the little cottage.

"What is it?"

She shook her head as though trying to clear her thoughts. "I… nothing."

Both of them looking at the little home, they watched as a familiar man came out of the cottage and went towards the woman and children in the garden. He kissed the woman on the cheek and patted the two little girls on the head, smiling down at them. They all stood up and went into the cottage - except for the man, who lingered in the doorway for a moment longer.

"Doctor, that's… no, it can't be. It _can't_ be."

Doctor Kahn was standing amongst his family in the garden, an air of happiness emanating from them that could even be felt from where the Doctor and Amy were standing.

The Doctor, looking over at Amy, watched as the edges of her mouth curved into a smile. The light returned to her eyes as she watched Kahn standing in the doorway, looking back at them. He raised an arm and have a small wave to them, before going back into the house, the two little girls following behind them.

"Look how happy he is," Amy said with a slight laugh to her voice, "he's got a house, and a wife, and kids. He even looks… _younger_, somehow. No stress from the museum, I guess. It took his toll on him, didn't it?"

"It looks like that museum was both the best and worst thing to happen to him, doesn't it, Pond? He lost a job and a life on Kroon, but got a brand new life in the process. And a family! He got his happy ending after all."

She nodded happily, looking at the now-closed door of the little cottage. "Shall we head off, then?"

The Doctor smiled at her. "Lead on, Pond. Anywhere in particular you want to go now?"

"Not so fast, mister. First, I have to teach you about Monopoly. I can't believe you don't know what it is. And I wouldn't say no to a bit of coffee, either."

He laughed loudly at her words. Amy snickered at him, and soon found herself laughing just as hard as he was. Shaking her head, she turned on her heels and headed back to the TARDIS.

The two strangers went back into the blue box, and after a loud banging noise, the box began to dematerialise. It created a loud whirring noise as it left, and once gone, there was no indication it had ever been there in the first place.

Only Doctor Kahn would ever know they had been there, as well as his two daughters, who watched the space where it had been with wonder in their eyes.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:**** Christmas soon! That chapter is likely coming on Christmas day. This one took ages, sorry about that. Anyway, thank you to everyone that reviewed! :)**


	15. Chapter 15

Amy woke up that morning with a sense of peace in her. She felt alert but quite calm - risky business in a bed like hers. When building her bedroom, the TARDIS had provided her with several layers of thick, soft blankets, making it far too easy to stay curled up and sleep for several more hours, whether you intended to or not. Despite how awake she felt, Amy had been planning to do just that, before she'd heard someone knocking urgently at her door.

"Pond! Are you up yet?" the Doctor yelled through the thin space between her bedroom door and the wall. "How long do you lot have to sleep for?"

Amy was faintly aware of her door bursting open and the Doctor hurrying through. He sat promptly down on the end of her bed, squashing her blankets down, and proceeded to attempt shaking her awake.

"Go away," Amy mumbled into her pillow. "it's comfy here."

"C'mon Pond. Up and at 'em, early bird gets the worm, all that stuff. We've got places to go and people to see!"

"We live in a time machine. Why does it matter when I get up?"

She heard him give a deep, impatient sigh. "Pond, I'll jump on the bed. You know I will!" he threatened, shaking her arm slightly harder than he had before.

"Do it. I _dare_ you," Amy growled playfully. As quickly as she could without the Doctor having time to react, she reached beneath her head, grabbed her pillow, and threw it in the Doctor's direction. It smacked it him in the head and he flung himself off the bed, looking shocked.

"There's more where that came from, mister," she laughed, finally sitting up to look at him. "So why do I need to get out of bed now, exactly?"

The Doctor smiled at her, bent down to pick up her pillow, and threw it back at her. "Not telling. You have to come downstairs and see. Come along, Pond!"

Rolling her eyes at him, Amy tossed the covers off her bed and reached for her robe. Tying it on and rubbing at her still puffy eyes, she raked one hand through her mess of red hair and followed the Doctor, who was already hurrying out of her room and down the steps to the console room. As far as Amy was concerned, he was much too energetic for someone who barely slept at all.

Once down in the console room, Amy leant against the console, waiting to hear what the Doctor wanted to tell her - or show her. She didn't even have the faintest idea about what exactly the Doctor had in store. He didn't seem up to letting the secret out yet, either.

"I've got a surprise for you, Pond," he told her enthusiastically, tapping her on the nose and turning back to the console.

Amy, confused, craned her neck to look around the console and towards the area near the front doors. "Erm, what exactly d'you mean? I... don't think I'm following quite yet," she admitted, her mind still not completely woken up yet.

The Doctor smiled as he tapped at the keys of the typewriter built into the console. As far as surprises went, he was sure she wouldn't see something like this one coming. "It's not a gift or anything, if that's what you're thinking. I'm taking you somewhere _brilliant_. _Really_ brilliant. Ooh, this has got to be my best one yet!"

"Ooh!" she exclaimed, clapping her hands together excitedly. "You always say that, but you _really_mean this one, don't you? Are we going back to visit Marie?"

The Doctor gave a tiny chuckle as he fiddled with a little screen on the console. "No, I-"

"Wait, is this one of those moons of Poosh you're always on about?"

"No, actually-"

"Oh, oh, I know! This is Space Florida! You've said how we're going to have a holiday there. That it, isn't it?"

"Amy-"

"Oh my god, is this one of those massive shopping malls that goes on for days? Because _that_is proper shopping, let me just say."

Caught up in her excitement and curiosity, Amy did not notice when the Doctor stopped his work at the console, moved to stand next to her, and watched her with a bemused expression on his face. Perhaps he shouldn't have said anything about surprises.

"Pond."

Amy cleared her throat and smiled innocently back at him. "Erm, yeah, sorry. So spill it, mister. Where are you taking me today?"

"Christmas. The year 2011, to be exact. Christmas day in London! Did you have plans for the big day, Pond?"

At the mention of Christmas 2011, Amy's eyes began to sparkle. She certainly _did_ have Christmas plans - before the TARDIS had landed in her flat on Christmas eve, her plan was that she was going to head up to Leadworth that afternoon to surprise her sister and her parents. The Doctor offering to take her there was perfect. She could finally convince her parents that the Doctor wasn't a madman (well, not as far as _they_ needed to know), and Gemma's son Alfie would finally have someone as childish as himself to play with.

"Gemma's house at noon. Can we stop off at my flat first, though? I got them all some gifts, and I need to pick them up."

The Doctor's response came in the form of the flicking of switches, the sound of the TARDIS' engines roaring, and their landing. Amy grinned at him before hopping down the steps and wrenching the front doors open, running straight into her London flat. Being there now felt so… _odd_ to her. She had been off on so many adventures, but as far as anyone else was concerned, she had only been gone for a few hours - and here she was, wearing the same outfit she'd left in! Shaking her head to forget about it, she went off into her bedroom to collect the gifts.

Finding a large bag, she put all the presents inside and shut it. Amy was just about to hurry out and return to the TARDIS when an idea popped into her head.

_I've already gone around in my nightie enough, thanks. I'm getting dressed before he takes me anywhere._

Going through her clothing, she was able to pull out the perfect outfit for Christmas morning - cosy black leggings, her favourite Christmas jumper (with little red reindeer on, it was the least tacky of all her Christmas jumpers), and some black boots. Changing quickly, Amy grabbed her bag again, picked her nightie and robe off of the floor and prepared to leave again. Spotting her mobile, she quickly snatched that up as well and ran off, infectious Christmas spirit filling every cell in her body.

* * *

><p>The TARDIS materialised on Gemma's quiet Leadworth street in a snowbank. The sound was heard by people in every home nearby, except, thankfully, for the home directly across from the Doctor and Amy. The din of people talking inside was nearly deafening.<p>

The Doctor and Amy clamoured out of the blue box. The Doctor gleefully hurried out to get his hands on some snow, whilst Amy was trudging over to Gemma's house, her bag full of presents in hand.

"Toss a snowball at me, Doctor, and it'll be the last one you ever throw," Amy threatened with a laugh as she went. Knowing the Doctor and his childish ways (especially during holidays), it was better to be safe than sorry.

Despite the number of people in the house, Gemma was the one to answer the door. At first, she appeared curious - who else would be coming to the house on Christmas day? - but her jaw nearly dropped to the floor when she saw who was standing there. She left the door open for them to enter and ran yelling back into the house, proclaiming Amy and the Doctor's arrival excitedly.

They entered the warm home, shaking the snow off their boots, when Gemma came running back to them. Before she said anything to Gemma, even a simple Christmas greeting, Amy vocalised the sudden thought that had struck her.

"Listen, Gem. Remember how at first, I thought the Doctor's name was John Smith? Mum and Dad still think it is, so call him that, yeah?" Amy whispered hurriedly, her tone urgent and serious.

Understanding, Gemma nodded. "Yeah, yeah, I've got it! I'm not daft, Amy, honestly. Have a bit more faith in me! Anyway, what're we all standing in here for? Come on in, come on!"

Amy and the Doctor made their way into Gemma's front room, which was far cleaner than it had been when they had last been there (at the Doctor's request, he and Amy had torn apart the room in a search for information, and left it a terrible mess). Delicate Christmas lights adorned the tree and several bits of ceiling. There was tinsel everywhere, ridiculous little ornaments and the tackiest of trinkets all around. Amy's whole family was in the room - Gemma's husband Ethan with their son Alfie in his lap, Amy's mother, Tabetha Pond, and her father, Augustus Pond. All looked cheerily at them and called out greetings. It was a far happier place than a lot of the other places Amy had been to recently.

* * *

><p>The Doctor seemed a little disappointed at the lack of gifts to open. Gemma's family and the Ponds had all opened their gifts already, leaving the Doctor moping and moaning to Amy about how he wished he'd been there. It was his favourite part of Christmas, he informed her. Despite the family already being done with their gifts, Amy pulled out her gifts for them and dished them out. Gemma scurried to the back of her tree and pulled out one last gift - one for Amy. She'd been planning to give it to her the next time they met up, anyway. Tabetha exclaimed that she had a gift for Amy as well, and hurried out the front door, returning several minutes later, gift in hand.<p>

Amy was delighted to find that her gifts were nearly all books this year. Shortly after opening them, however, she had to wrench them out of the curious hands of the Doctor, who kept nicking them whenever she looked away. She'd learnt that the hard way during their travels - if you leave a book with the Doctor, he'd be sure to pilfer it and sneak it away to hide it in the TARDIS library.

Christmas dinner was just as marvellous as Amy had expected it to be. It had everything a proper dinner should - a delicious looking turkey, and Christmas crackers next to everyone's plates. The Doctor seemed quite excited by them as well. He didn't even wait until the dinner had begun to open his, and instead ran right for it as soon as he neared the table. Pleased with himself moments later, he placed his brand new Christmas hat on his head and strode off to find Alfie.

Dinner soon started, and everyone sat around the table. The Doctor made sure to seat himself between both Amy and Alfie, so that, as he told her, he could '_have the most fun possible_'. Amy wasn't sure about what that meant beforehand, but she figured it out soon after sitting down - it meant that he wanted to steal food off of her plate and generally make a mess. She shouldn't have expected anything less.

After about fifteen minutes, Amy noticed that the Doctor continually craned his neck to look out of every nearby window. Wondering what he was doing, she questioned him about it.

"Looking for aliens. Could be an invasion, you know. It's best to keep on top of things."

"There doesn't have to be an alien invasion _every_Christmas, you know," Amy laughed, adjusting the bright red paper hat on his mess of hair. "Sometimes it's nice to just have a normal holiday."

"Well, that's rubbish. What _do_you lot do on Christmas, then?"

"Erm... human stuff?" Amy offered, trying to come up with the most obvious of examples to give him. "Eat food, have parties, give gifts, stuff like that."

"No aliens?"

"Not today, mister. And don't go off and find any, either."

"Yes, ma'am," the Doctor agreed in a sing-song voice, causing Amy to grant him a short elbow to the ribs. Nobody else seemed to notice her minor act of violence at the dinner table apart from the two of them.

After dinner, everyone was full of food and suitably exhausted. The only ones that seemed to have any energy left were the Doctor and Alfie. They were discussing trains excitedly, with the Doctor debating with the child over which train he'd received for Christmas was best.

After a short while, Amy's mum and dad announced that they'd better head back home, as it was starting to get late. Augustus said his goodbyes to everyone and headed to the front door to find his coat. Tabetha did the same, but lingered for a moment longer to let Amy know that after finally meeting John, she'd changed her mind about him, considering him to be far from dangerous. Giving Amy a hug and a kiss on the cheek, Tabetha and Augustus left, leaving the Doctor and Amy with Gemma and her family.

Not long after Amy and Gemma's parents had left, Alfie fell asleep next to the sofa where he and the Doctor had been playing with his gifts. Gemma picked him up and carried him to bed.

"He's had a big day. You're probably the most fun friend he's had in ages, Doctor," Gemma told them after returning back downstairs. It was just her with the Doctor and Amy now - Ethan had bid them goodnight and excused himself to go to bed, as he had to work in the morning.

"Glad to hear it. He's got a marvellous set of trains there, Pond. I'll admit, I'm a tad jealous," the Doctor informed Gemma, pointing at the discarded toys on the floor.

"I suppose we should head out now too, yeah, Doctor?" Amy piped up. "Don't want to keep you up any later, Gem. We had a brilliant Christmas, by the way. Thank you."

"No problem, hon. Before you leave, I just want to tell you, Amy, that… I'm really happy for you. You came in here this afternoon, and you were _different_. But not a bad different, you know? You seemed a _better_ sort of different. Like you were more sure of yourself. You came in here more confident; more sure of what you wanted. I don't know what kind of effect the Doctor's had on you, but… I've never seen you happier."

Amy nodded at what Gemma was telling her, a smile on her face. She knew exactly what Gemma was talking about - she'd felt the change in herself too.

"I _am_ happier, Gem. I can't even explain it, but I really am."

"I know, hon. You two be careful, alright? And drop by once in a while. I'm always here, alright?"

She agreed to be careful and gave Gemma a tight hug goodbye. There were times in her life where Amy felt as though few people understood her (they occurred now more than ever before), but she always considered her sister to be one of the few that did. Gemma had always been able to connect with her on a level that nobody else ever could. There were things she would never need to vocalise, because, by some magic, Gemma just _knew_.

Their goodbyes finished (they concluded with Gemma giving the Doctor a hug, which he responded to with flailing, unsure arms), the Doctor and Amy went back out into the street where snow was beginning to lightly fall. The sky was beginning to turn a dark grey, meaning another Christmas come and gone.

"Christmas always leaves so quickly, doesn't it?" Amy mentioned wistfully as they crossed the street back to the TARDIS. She gazed up at the flurries in the sky with a mixture of good cheer and sadness at the end of another great holiday.

"It doesn't have to this year, Pond."

Intrigued by the mysterious tone of voice the Doctor was using, she peered suspiciously at him. "What're you implying?"

"Would you be up for a ball tonight?"

"What, as in, fancy clothes in and dancing?"

The Doctor snorted as he fit the TARDIS key into the lock. "'Course I do. I've got two invitations to this fancy Christmas shin-dig. Will you be accompanying me, Miss Pond?"

"Ooh, don't mind if I do, _Mr. Smith_," Amy retorted playfully. "Well, as long as you promise to never say shin-dig again."

* * *

><p>"Alright, should I go find a dress or something, then?"<p>

After loading back into the TARDIS and Amy had dumped all of her gifts in her bedroom, she'd made her way back down to the console room to find the Doctor carefully inspecting his jacket. He seemed to be trying to figure out whether or not he should be wearing it.

"Be my guest - you know where the wardrobe is. If you're going all _fancy_ then I suppose I should as well. How do you feel about top hats, Pond?"

She snorted as she made her way to the stairs. "You know how I feel about you and hats, Doctor. You wear a hat, it's either gonna be mine by the end of the night, or it'll 'mysteriously disappear'. Remember that baseball cap you found in New York?"

"I- wait, do you have that?"

"No telling!" Amy hollered in a sing-song voice. The last thing she needed was for him to get any stupid ideas about wearing a hat to the ball.

After trying on several dresses and deciding she didn't like the look of any of them, Amy finally settled for something that went with her hair (and her mood) perfectly - a long, emerald green gown. It had full sleeves, right down to her wrists, and a floor-length skirt. It wasn't Amy's usual style, but she had to admit, it made her feel like a bit of a princess, something that wouldn't make her out of place at a dressy event like this.

Making her way back to the console room, Amy found that the Doctor had changed his clothes and was already waiting for her. For some reason, he was lying on his back on the glass floor and gazing up at the ceiling of the TARDIS, apparently transfixed by it. At the sound of her shoes on the stairs, he bolted into a sitting position and pulled himself back up to look over at her.

"This thing is mad, isn't it?" Amy asked with a laugh, spinning herself dramatically on the spot. "D'you think I could walk in there and pretend to be royalty or something? Ooh, probably not. Anyway, how does it look?"

The Doctor blinked at her, his face having not changed at all since she'd entered the room. "Amy," he coughed, shaking his head slightly, "you are _magnificent_."

She really had no idea how to respond to that. She wasn't sure she'd ever had someone say that to her and truly mean it. It felt strange… and the longer the silence she left before she responded, the stranger it felt.

"Thanks," she chuckled, shuffling closer to him. "Ooh, I like the white suit. Nice little tux you've got there, spaceman."

"Shall we?" The Doctor asked her with a smile, offering his arm.

Amy took it, shooting him back a mischievous smile. "Let's crash this party."

When Amy had been told that the Doctor was taking her to a ball, she had been expecting some lavish party on Earth. Perhaps the most obvious thing was that, knowing the Doctor, it would _not_ be a normal ball, but she didn't even think of that. Stepping out of the TARDIS into a large ballroom full of different creatures she'd never even seen before was not something that had crossed her mind.

After a while, more and more people began to join the ball, and Amy quickly became comfortable around dozens Soon, the ballroom of the dome had begun to fill up until there was hardly any room to move at all - there must have been hundreds of partygoers inside.

For nearly an hour, Amy sat next to the Doctor on a squashy green couch in the corner and listened intently as he began a lively conversation with three short green men in fancy dress, each rather resembling Robertson and Myra, except for their obvious difference in height.

Growing tired of hearing about what sounded like stories about weather on different planets, Amy grew bored and wandered off to the centre of the ballroom. She found several fellow humans near the snack tables to converse with, but none of them had stories to tell that were quite as amazing as her own. One kind. older woman, who introduced herself to Amy as Rosemary, told the group of them a story of how she'd travelled the Pleiades in a hot-air balloon-shaped ship with her sisters when she was a young girl. Amy listened with great interest until halfway through the tale, when the Doctor tugged at the sleeve of her dress and beckoned her to follow him towards the great glass window at the back of the room.

Amy stood next to him in awe as they looked out at the inky black night - it had begun to snow. It did not fall to earth in a hurried blizzard, a common winter occurrence, but instead in peaceful, silent flurries. No matter how many times Amy had seen snow, it always managed to fascinate her - the idea that something as simple as snow could be both so beautiful and so troublesome was astounding.

"Come on, let's go see it!"

The Doctor laughed as Amy grabbed the lapels of his jacket to haul him towards the door to the garden. She nearly tripped over her own feet in her haste, making her begin to giggle along with him.

The balcony beyond the window was large, with decorations adorning it on nearly every surface. Amy saw fairy lights and tinsel woven around the barrier railing, shimmering Christmas trees sat in every available corner, and ribbon-tied bundles of mistletoe hung sneakily on the archway above their heads. There was no change in temperature as the two of them strode out onto the large balcony, which had Amy wondering how it could snow without the cold.

"The snow isn't real," the Doctor simply said, answering Amy's question before she even had time to ask it. "It a synthetic, but it's made with such accuracy that people don't even stop and think any differently about it. Usually the only thing that falls out of the sky on Christmas eve is ash and wreckage, things like that. But this is nice, isn't it?"

Amy coughed out a laugh at his words. "It's beautiful."

They stayed leaning against the barrier for several more minutes as the Doctor pointed to the clearest stars in the sky and told Amy about them all. If there was ever a man who had a perfect right to say 'been there, done that', it was certainly the Doctor.

"Alright!" the Doctor called out suddenly, clapping his hands together so loudly that Amy gave a startled jump. "Let's get back inside, the dancing starts soon! I do love a good party, Amy, but I only come for the dancing."

"Is what you do really considered dancing?"

The Doctor said nothing, but rolled his eyes at her words. But instead of walking forwards and into the ballroom, he stopped, gazing up at the archway.

"Hang on, what's that?" he asked with a puzzled, curious expression, pointing up at the decorative bundles above them.

Amy shuffled over to stand beside him, her bold emerald dress flowing in the slight breeze. "Erm, Doctor, that's mistletoe."

"Ooh, yes, mistletoe! Isn't it a common Earth custom to-"

The Doctor turned to ask Amy about it and was surprised at how close she was. With a playful smirk on her face, Amy leant in and suddenly snaked her arms around the Doctor's neck, stood on her tiptoes and kissed him full on the mouth, cutting his sentence short. Shocked, the Doctor's arms stayed frozen in place, arms still pointed up towards the archway.

After several seconds, Amy broke away, her expression unreadable as she pulled her lips away and moved her arms back, but after a split second of seeing the Doctor's flabbergasted face, she burst into raucous peals of laughter.

"Oh my god Doctor, your face! You should see yourself right now! Oh, I should have brought a camera!" She bent over and shook with now-silent laughter, ignoring the Doctor's attempt at spluttering out words.

"I... Amy, you... that..."

"Doctor, it's _Christmas_. Now, I believe you said something about dancing?"

He shook his head at her in disbelief as they went back to the ballroom, a slight smile on his lips. Before they entered the doorway, the Doctor turned and hugged Amy close to him, making her utter a small squeak of surprise and bury her face in his shoulder.

"Hey."

"Yeah?" she asked, her voice slightly muffled by his shirt but the smile in it still audible.

The Doctor paused for a moment and thought. He thought of how they had met, how they'd flown away together, and he thought of all the adventures they'd had. All the ones they were going to have.

His eyes crinkled up in a smile.

"Merry Christmas, Amelia Pond."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays, lovelies! Sorry, this is about 30 minutes too late to be considered published on Christmas, but I've got a cold. That's my excuse! Anyway, hope you all had a _fabulous_ day. Wasn't the DW special lovely? Not ashamed to say I got emotional at the end of it. Aah, fluff. Oh, that that brings me to my last point: many of you have told me how glad you are that I don't simply line my fics with fluff. This chapter is sort of my fluff release. I'm getting it all out in one shot! So yes, thank you for all the LOVELY reviews you've all left for me lately, they honestly mean the world to me. They are always welcome, signed or not - yes, dear anon reviewers, I appreciate you too! xx**


	16. Chapter 16

"Leave it to you to ruin Christmas, eh?"

"I didn't ruin Christmas, Pond, I'm not the one that felt the need to invade."

Amy was leaning with her back against the console, shaking her head and smiling as she stared upwards. Their Christmas together had been a grand one, yes - they'd visited her family and he'd taken her to a ball. Of course, she should have suspected that it wouldn't all end as well as it had begun.

After returning back to the ballroom as the proper dancing had begun, the Doctor had apparently found it absolutely necessary to stop an invasion. So much for not having to save the world every Christmas. After a panicked clearing of the ballroom, several explosions and many daring escapes, the Doctor and Amy had scurried off back to the TARDIS. They had made it back in one piece, but their clothes were another story.

Amy simply snorted - it was her best way of showing that she wasn't too annoyed with him. "Alright, yeah, you didn't invade. But look at this dress! Oh my god, wait, is that a burn mark?"

"Yeah, that might have been from the first… explodey-wodey… thing. I'm sure there's plenty of clothing where that came from in the wardrobe," the Doctor informed her, straightening his scorched tie in the reflection on the closest monitor.

"Explodey-wodey? Is that the technical term?"

"It's as good as. Off you pop, go on!" he ushered, nodding in the direction of the staircase. With a cheery wink, Amy darted off, leaving the Doctor on his own in the control room with the whirring and buzzing of the machinery to keep him company. It was a welcome bit of peace after the noise of the ball he and Amy had previously escaped from.

In that instant, he heard the impossible - a knock at the front doors.

They were floating aimlessly in deep space. They weren't even landed anywhere, and yet, there had been a knock. The comforting hum of the console quieted down and the Doctor's hearing seemed to have perked up at the sound of the knock, waiting for its recurrence. His hearing had never deceived him before - by god, he could even hear a pin drop at times. But even so, he wasn't entirely sure he'd heard correctly. How could he have?

With hesitation, the Doctor tiptoed down the steps and made his way to the front door, patting his jacket pocket to make sure he still had his sonic with him, just in case. With one deep breath, his fingers clasped around the handle and he gave a great pull.

Floating there in front of the doors was a single, glowing white cube, emitting a slight whirring noise as he acknowledged it. Completely at a loss to what it was, the Doctor made to grab it, but it zoomed out of his reach at the last moment. Closing the doors to avoid the cube escaping, he leant against the doors and tried to seek it out in the complicated array of devices near the console. Spotting it near the area under the console, he rushed over to it and toppled over in his haste to snatch it. He was once again successful, and the tricky little object moved away once again.

As he got up from his place on the floor, the Doctor was aware of Amy's footsteps on the staircase, rushing back up to the console, he found his companion staring at him with great confusion, midway through asking him a question.

"Oi, d'you want some coffee? I was just about to-" she paused, staring at the form of the Doctor, who was climbing out from under the console. Normally, she would not be alarmed to see the Doctor climbing out from something - it had happened an almost ridiculous amount of times before - but he seemed more determined than usual as he stood up. He straightened his jacket out and did an awkward little spin, evidently looking for something.

"What did you fall over for?" she queried, noticing the Doctor brushing at his clothing. "What were you doing?"

"Hunting."

"_Ooookay_. Erm, should I ask wh-"

The Doctor cut her off with shake of his head and a dismissing wave of his hand. "Keep your eyes peeled, Pond, there's a little white box flying around here. I can't get near enough to catch it."

Amy blinked and stared at him, as though trying to decide whether or not he was playing some sort of joke. His expression did not appear to change, so she thought it safe to assume he wasn't kidding.

"White box. Right. Is that it over there?" she asked, pointing to something directly behind him. Before the Doctor had turned to look, Amy had thrust her hand out and snatched the offending object out of the air, despite the cube's best attempts at wriggling away from her grasp.

She held it in her hands and moved closer to the Doctor, who was already peering at it with inquisitive eyes. Frowning, she looked back up at the floppy-haired man in front of her.

"Doctor, what is it?"

She found the strange box incredibly beautiful. It was a flawless, pure white, glowing so brightly that it was somewhat difficult to look at. It seemed so simple, and yet, so impossibly mysterious. What was the little cube doing here? And better yet, what was its purpose?

In the blink of an eye, the Doctor's face broke into a wide grin, his smile so bright that it almost shone as the cube in Amy's hands did.

"Forget the coffee, Pond. I've got mail!" he exclaimed, flashing his biggest grin yet.

* * *

><p>"Would you like to start answering my questions, raggedy man? A bloody box comes flying in from deep space and you're calling it mail, and now you've landed somewhere. <em>Where<em>? And what the hell's going on, eh?"

After changing his clothes and proclaiming that the box was some sort of mail, the Doctor nearly flew to the console, pressing controls madly and hurriedly calling out that he'd need to 'delete spare rooms to make it properly', though Amy still had no idea what was going on. To add to her already large amount of confusion, the TARDIS lurched violently and the lights flickered, sending Amy flying. After a particularly rough landing, the Doctor laughed like a child and hurried over to her, hauling her up by the hand and nearly dragging her down the steps to the doors.

"That 'bloody box', as you so lovingly called it, is a hypercube. It's a method of Time Lord communication, Amy, and Time Lords only used it in case of emergencies! I haven't seen one in _ages_. Oh, this is Christmas!"

"Time Lords only? Then… oh my god, there's someone else out there? Doctor, that's amazing! Why didn't you say anything?"

"Busy busy, Pond! Look closely at this box," he told her, pointing at the cube that was now sat patiently on the console, "do you see the symbol on it? That's the mark of the Corsair. Wonderful bloke, had that exact tattoo in every regeneration. Ouroboros, it's called. Now, see, I traced it, and his signal is coming from outside the universe, which is _brilliant_, as there certainly aren't any Time Lords left in this universe."

"Outside the universe? How's that even possible?" Amy asked, now utterly bewildered. So much for understanding the universe. How could anything be _outside_ of it?

"Think of the universe as a great big bubble, really beautiful with lots of cool stuff inside. Now, picture a smaller bubble, stuck to the side of that one, like bubbles in a bathtub."

"Are you telling me that the universe is a big bubble? That's it? Just a bubble, with another bubble on the outside that nobody knows exists, the whole universe and everything outside of that - is just like soap?"

He scrunched up his face in deep thought. "No, but if that helps you, then yes. Now, come along, Pond!"

The area they'd landed in was unlike anything Amy had ever seen before. It appeared to be night - or, Amy thought later, in some sort of permanent nighttime state - with a sky of dark greenish-blues. Everything around them, the hills, the piles at their feet, even the ground, seemed to be made from rubbish. It was however, a curious kind of rubbish. It was clearly of use to no one, hence being dumped unceremoniously in piles around the land, yet it had no smell. The closer Amy looked at what lay near them, the more she began to realise that the heaps of rubbish were made up entirely of electronics and mechanical devices. Strange tubing, bits of appliances, and keypads seemed to be common occurrences, but further on ahead there appeared to be larger scraps - siding for larger objects, perhaps?

The Doctor appeared to be just as curious and awestruck as her, though neither of them said anything. That mischievous glint in his eye that Amy had learnt to be wary of had returned, bringing new life to his expression.

"Do you see all this stuff?" Amy asked, kneeling down to tap her fingers on the dusty keys of a typewriter on the ground. "It's like someone just tore apart some electronic stuff and dumped it."

"Quite a bit of rift energy too," the Doctor said absentmindedly. "Not sure where that's come from. Well, at least the TARDIS can refuel on th-"

"On the what, the rift energy?" Amy asked. "What's wrong?"

The Doctor had paused as he'd turned back to look at the TARDIS, his mouth hanging open. He stepped slowly back to it, his whole face contorted in disbelief.

"That can't be. That's… that's impossible."

He was staring up at the small bulb on the roof of the TARDIS. Each time Amy had seen it since the TARDIS had finished repairing itself, that bulb had been shining brightly and properly. Looking at it now, she understood why the Doctor was so aghast - the bulb was out.

"Maybe we've just worn out the bulb," she offered, looking over at the Doctor again. "It's weird, though, isn't it? It's never burnt out before."

The Doctor did not turn to meet her gaze and instead continued to look at the roof. "We haven't worn it out, Amy. The TARDIS is dead."

What a ridiculous concept. "Dead? How can it be _dead_, Doctor? That doesn't make sense-"

"I don't know. The power is just... gone," he told her, scanning the TARDIS to be sure. "It's completely drained. With all this rift energy around, we can home that has some kind of effect. Anyway, something on this planet must have done it. Come on, we need to go find out what."

The Doctor reached out to grab Amy's hand, and together they turned to face the piles of wreckage. What they saw instead of the machinery made the Doctor give a yelp of fright and Amy stop in her tracks.

Two people stood in front of them, but they were by far the oddest-looking people that Amy had ever seen. One was a woman and one was a man, and both looked somewhat lopsided and ill, not to mention filthy. Both were bugging out their eyes at the Doctor and Amy, moving towards the new strangers on their turf.

"Welcome, strangers! They call me Auntie," the woman told them, extending her hand to the Doctor. He shook it and Amy followed suit, still watching the odd woman carefully.

"A-and I'm Uncle," the man next to her piped up. "I'm everybody's uncle. This is Nephew."

Stepping out from behind him was a figure Amy had not previously seen - an Ood, with bright green eyes. She gulped and reached out to get a grip on the Doctor's jacket sleeve.

"God, they're horrible," she muttered darkly.

"It's alright, Amy, it won't hurt you," the Doctor whispered to her under his breath. "Hello there! Nice to meet you all."

He looked expectantly over at the Ood, seemingly surprised when the Ood did not say anything in response. Amy peered over at Auntie and Uncle, wondering if there was something wrong with it.

"Nephew was broken when he came here. House repaired him. House repaired all of us," Uncle told her, wringing his hands as he looked at Nephew. As Uncle spoke, the Doctor edged towards the Ood and peeked curiously at the sphere in its hand.

"Ooh, I see, your translator sphere is broken. May I? It might be on the wrong frequency."

With a simple press of his fingers, the Ood's sphere sprung open, and the Doctor examined the wiring inside. He adjusted the settings and moved several wires, and within seconds, the sphere was working. However, the voice that was coming from the translator was completely unlike anything Amy had been expected. At first, the sound emanating from it was garbled, sounding as though several people were trying to speak at the same time. They evened out, and the Doctor and Amy were able to detect one single, strong voice attempting to convey its message.

"If you are receiving this message, please help me - send a signal to the High Council of the Time Lords on Gallifrey. Please help, I don't know where I am."

The voice began to give an electronic hiss, and with that, fizzled out to nothing. The Ood blinked at the two of them, and gave no notion of having said anything at all. The strange message did not go unnoticed, however.

"Time Lords!" Amy murmured to the Doctor, grinning at him. "You were right, there are Time Lords here! But that's sort of weird, isn't it? You told me what you did. To the rest of them, I mean. How is there any chance that-"

"Dunno. I suppose we'll have to see," he replied, before turning back to Auntie, Uncle and Nephew. "He was picking up that signal from someone else. There are others here, aren't there? Can you show me?"

"There isn't nobody else here, just us three and House. Nobody else."

"House? What's House? You mentioned it before, erm…. Uncle," Amy asked. "Is that your king, or something?"

"No, no! House is all around you, my sweet!" Auntie told her cryptically, gesturing at the planet around her with her arms. "You are standing on him! This is the House. This world. Would you like to meet him?"

The Doctor and Amy turned to meet each other's gaze as soon as Auntie finished her question. Each had an excited glint in their eyes as they looked back at Auntie and spoke their answer at the same time.

"Yes."

* * *

><p>Auntie, Uncle and Nephew led the Doctor and Amy to a nearby heap, which turned out to be disguising a set of underground caves. They motioned for the two travellers to follow them into the tunnels, and excited at the prospect of a new future for the Doctor, they followed eagerly.<p>

They led the Doctor and Amy to a large, damp cavern. At the centre was a big rusted grate, which Nephew stood next to as though he was meant to guard it.

"Come, come! You can see the House and he can look at you!" Uncle proclaimed, gently ushering Amy and the Doctor forwards. The Doctor ducked down to peer down into the grate and gave a tiny laugh.

"I see. This asteroid is sentient."

"What, this is alive?" Amy countered. "How can it be alive? How are _they_," she added, giving a small gesture at Auntie, Uncle and Nephew, "alive?"

It was Auntie who gave her an answer. "We walk on his back, breathe his air, eat his food… _and do my will. You are most welcome, travellers_."

The end of her sentence was not finished in her own voice, but instead in the deep voice of a man, much different from hers. Amy and the Doctor looked back at her, alarmed at her sudden change.

"That's the asteroid talking? Wait, so are they… are they like puppets, then? This asteroid thing controls them?"

"_That is correct. And welcome, Time Lord. Many travellers have come through the rift, like Auntie and Uncle and Nephew. I repair them when they break."_

"Sorry, but there won't be any more after us. I'm the last Time Lord. Last TARDIS too, you know."

A pause. _"Oh. A pity. Your people were so kind. Stay here in safety with your friend, Doctor. Rest."_

Auntie gave a brief shudder and stumbled slightly backwards. "Oh! That's House then. Now go on, have your visit. House loves you, you're welcome to stay!"

"Thank you, that's very kind!" the Doctor said with a smile and a gentle wave. Snaking his arm around Amy's, he guided her out of the cavern and continued out of the tunnels, not once turning back to look at the three behind them.

"We're not _honestly_ staying here, are we? I'm not going anywhere near that Ood unless I have to. And don't you think there's something a bit… off about Auntie and Uncle?"

"I think there's something a bit off about everyone, Amy. Now, shall we explore some more? Oh! Before I forget, could you pop off back to the TARDIS? I think I left the sonic in my jacket pocket."

Amy agreed and turned to go back to the TARDIS. She'd hardly even taken two steps before what he was asking her to do registered as strange to her. Find his sonic screwdriver in his jacket pocket? He was already _wearing_ the thing.

"You've got your jacket on, Doctor," she pointed out, giving a tiny little laugh.

"No, no, I've got another one. It's under the console."

"Got it. Don't go anywhere, alright?"

The Doctor watched Amy's retreating form, and as soon as he was sure she was out of eyesight, reached into his jacket to make sure he still had his sonic screwdriver with him. Patting the pocket, he spun on his heel and headed straight back into the caves.

* * *

><p>Not eager to be alone on this planet (or to leave the Doctor on his own - she knew the childish things he could get up to without her there to stop him), Amy walked quickly back to the TARDIS. The Doctor had, thankfully, left it unlocked. <em>Bit daft of him, anyone could've just walked in here<em>.

It was a tricky business, trying to find her way in the pitch black. Despite knowing the layout of the console room like the back of her hand, it was very nearly impossible to avoid tripping over anything in complete darkness.

A sudden thought clicked in Amy's mind. _Why would he send me back to get his sonic in the pitch black TARDIS? He's always got that thing with him. Unless… oh. He wants me out of the way._

Caught up in her too-late realisation, Amy was completely unaware of the green mist that was beginning to circle the base of the TARDIS.

* * *

><p>"So, you said it's in your other jacket pocket? Under the console?"<p>

"Erm, should be, yeah."

Upon making her way to the console, she'd pulled her mobile phone out of her pocket and called the Doctor. He wasn't going to get away with tricking her quite that easily.

Amy nodded to herself and snorted, trying quite hard to avoid full-on laughing at his words. "Alright, sure. Okay, Doctor, I'm not going to go look for it, because I think you lied because you want me out of the way. Not cool enough for your new friends, eh? Am I wrong?"

He paused and took a moment to answer her. _Probably weighing which response would make him less likely to get killed later_, Amy thought.

"You're making it sound a bit bad, but it's not. No, no, listen! There's something going on here. Something doesn't make sense, so I'm going to find out what it is. House told us that there are no Time Lords here. But I _heard_ them, and so did you. I don't completely trust this anymore, and I don't want anything happening to you, Amy."

"Noble of you, but I'm a big girl, alright? Thanks for the offer and everything, but I'm going to come back out there now-"

She paused at the sound of the front doors locking.

"You prat, did you just lock the bloody doors?"

"Just sit tight for a bit, okay? I'll come back there for you, I promise," the Doctor assured her. "It's safer this way."

"I hate you."

"No you don't," he answered, and Amy could hear the smile in his voice.

Amy hung up the phone and put her mobile back in her jacket pocket. Leaning against the console and sighing heavily, she began to notice the change in lighting around her. The simple darkness had disappeared, replaced with a strange green light, coming from the screens and the glass above the doorway. What was going on?

She moved down the staircase to the doors, snaking her fingers around the lock. _Still jammed_. She'd momentarily forgotten he'd locked them - it was annoying, him constantly being the only one able to open the things he'd locked. Sighing, she went back over to the console.

"I guess it's safer here in the TARDIS, anyway," she said aloud. _Oh god, now I'm definitely going mad._

But why was the TARDIS going green?

"_You're half right."_

A deep, booming voice filled the silence around Amy and startled her. It was that same voice she'd heard before, when with the Doctor. House, it was called. But that was impossible… she was alone and nobody had gone into the TARDIS with her. Where had voice come from?

"_You are in the TARDIS. What a great adventure. So, Amy, why shouldn't I just kill you now?"_

_Kill_ her? What was going on? Why did House want her dead? She hadn't even done anything against it, she'd simply gone back to the TARDIS, no harm done.

"I-I don't-"

"_You don't know? Perhaps I should go on with it, then."_

She had to come up with something, and fast - anything that could buy her more time until the Doctor could get them out of this universe. Hurriedly searching her mind for an excuse, Amy began stammering.

"No! No! You like games, don't you? This is all for fun. You could have come in when the Doctor was in here and killed us both, couldn't you, eh? But you didn't. You just want to be entertained, is that it? Killing me now wouldn't be any fun, either."

Amy paused and waited for an answer, but heard nothing. Had the being left? It couldn't have, as the smoky green light was still streaming into the TARDIS. _It must be considering its options_, Amy thought. _Deciding what to do next_.

"_Very well, then. Entertain me. Run."_

She didn't need to be prompted twice. A mix of adrenaline and fear pumping within her, Amy bolted down the darkening corridor, red hair flying behind her in her rush to escape the voice. She needed to get away, to get anywhere where he could not find her.

"_It won't save you. It only makes this more fun."_

* * *

><p>High above the heads of the Doctor and Amy, in their home universe, a lone ship sat in deep space. It was a gracefully intricate ship with long, insect-like legs, having the appearance of a crouched-spider. The simple sight of such a ship sent fear into the hearts of those that remembered who they were. They remembered what had been done to them, and in turn, what needed to happen to remedy it. Complete control was necessary and time was of the essence.<p>

The group onboard was aware of what their orders were. Find the Pond girl. It was the simplest part of it all, and she was the final piece in their plan.

The Time Lord would fall for it, no doubt about it. He would come running, just as the prophecies foretold. The Oncoming Storm and the destroyer of worlds always needs to save the day. But they were the spider, with the unsuspecting one, the last of his kind, wandering straight into the web. By their records of witnesses and the words of historians, the Time Lord would be battling for his life in the outer universes. The perfect diversion.

"Get the girl."

With those three words, the plan was set in motion.

* * *

><p>She pitched herself around the next corner, boots smacking against the floor of the corridor. Heart pounding, she looked continually over her shoulder, half-praying that there was something physical she could flee from. A disembodied voice… that was far more difficult to escape.<p>

House hadn't taunted her for several minutes as she hurried for shelter, but she was sure she'd heard a faint chuckle several times. Another corner. Another doorway. It was all the same maze of grey and gold, no matter how far she ran.

Without warning, Amy felt a large gust of cold air hit her in the face, and the saw, stomach lurching, that she'd nearly toppled into a pit.

_I've turned off the corridor anti-grav, so do be careful._

Regaining her balance, Amy grabbed the edges of the wall and eased her way around the hole, trying to avoid looking down. This was going to be harder than she'd thought.

* * *

><p>Upon returning to the cavern, the Doctor found that Auntie, Uncle and Nephew had disappeared, leaving the room empty apart from the great on the floor that he knew contained House.<p>

Closing his eyes and concentrating carefully, he was able to sense the Time Lords again - the feeling had grown stronger. He was convinced that they had to be somewhere nearby. The question was, though, did the two people and the Ood know about them? They had insisted that they were the only ones on the planet along with House. Had they lied to him?

The Doctor's eyes fixed on a curtain at the back of the room. Inching carefully towards it, he wrenched the fabric aside, and found a simple glass cabinet. The power of the voices he heard in his mind had grown to their strongest - but how?

"They can't all be in here," he murmured to himself, one finger stroking the handle of the cabinet door.

When he opens the door, he finally understands.

Set on the shelves in the cabinet were dozens upon dozens of glowing white cubes, similar to the one that he and Amy had caught earlier in the TARDIS. Each was emitting the cries of a Time Lord, requesting help in their emergencies. He didn't have to ask any questions to know that they were long dead.

Two figures appeared then, on either side of him, but said nothing. Auntie and Uncle looked at each other and then back to the Doctor, who was quite aware of their presence, but was too infuriated to find the proper words to say to them.

Collecting himself, he swallowed heavily and slowly turned to face Auntie and Uncle. "Well done. I certainly fell for this one. Trapping the distress signals of dead Time Lords to lure others here? Oh, that's marvellous, isn't it? Absolutely wonderful of you. That's what the Ood was picking up, oh, how clever. How many people have you brought here to their death? Hmm?"

Auntie and Uncle said nothing, but the Doctor cut them off before they would have even had the chance to speak.

"Oh, I get it now. House is feeding, isn't he? He lures people here and has you two here to trick people into thinking this is a safe place. Is that what all the parts are? Parts of ships? Oh, and wait, this gets better," he sneered, suddenly grabbing Auntie's arm and turning it to face him.

"Patchwork people," the Doctor said, shaking his head. "That explains the distress signals, doesn't it? You've lured Time Lords here and killed them. And d'you know how I know that? Because of your arm. That's quite the tattoo you have there. I'm not sure that it suits you."

The Doctor had turned Auntie's arm to give him a perfect view of the circular marking on it. It was of a snake eating its own tail - the mark of the Corsair.

"You've got a planet built from remains of TARDISes, and-" the Doctor stopped himself as his most dreadful idea of all came to mind. He'd told the House that he was the last Time Lord left and that he was in possession of the last TARDIS. He thought immediately of Amy - and he remembered where he'd left her.

Ignoring Auntie and Uncle, the Doctor shoved his hand inside his jacket pocket and pulled out his mobile phone. Ages back, Amy had insisted that he bring his with him everywhere, due to her being tired of having no communication with him at times. He called her, absolutely praying that she would answer her phone.

"Doctor! Oh, thank god!" Amy called into the phone. She sounded out of breath, as though she'd been running a great distance.

"Amy, are you alright? We've got a problem."

"N-no, there's something wrong, Doctor. House got in and he's trying to kill me. _Please_, you have to do something, I don't know what-"

"Amy, stay where you are! Stay exactly where you are!"

"I'm not sure what to say to that!" she yelled, sounding somewhat calmer now. "The TARDIS definitely isn't going anywhere, but I'm pretty busy at the moment!"

"With what?"

"Running for my life, you idiot! Get in here!" With that, Amy ended her call, and the Doctor was sure she was on the move once again. It was, of course, in vain, as it would be utterly impossible to escape House. An entity controlling the ship was not something you could evade for long.

Pocketing his mobile, the Doctor broke into a run.

* * *

><p>Stopping to catch her breath around the next corner, Amy began to grow fearful. She wasn't going to be able to keep away from House any longer, and she needed the Doctor with her if they were going to fight him off completely.<p>

"_Have you grown tired of attempting to evade me yet? The death of the last Time Lord and now, his helpless little stowaway. This is the most fun I've had in centuries."_

"No," Amy shot back, running her two shaking hands roughly through her hair as she breathed heavily. "Shut up, he's fine, he's alive-"

"_Is he? Amelia, always waiting for her Doctor. Haven't you noticed how late he is?"_

"So what? He comes back for me; he _always_ comes back for me. Just stop it already, I know you're trying to mess with my head."

House chuckled, the deep sound resonating off of the walls of the corridor. "_He can't always come back for you. You won't always be saved. Your Doctor isn't coming, Amelia Pond, and you're going to die here."_

"He _is_, so shut your stupid bloody mouth! I don't believe you, alright? I know what you're doing, and it's not going to w-"

All it took was an absentminded glace to her left for Amy's doubtless resolve to abandon her, stopping her dead in the middle of her sentence. Lying there was a familiar form, a bloodied mess of brown hair and tweed. The identity of the person was unmistakable, as her crumbling strength informed her.

It didn't make sense - he hadn't come back for her, but he was there, lying dead in a heap at the end of the corridor. It had all been a trap, it must have. He must have been killed, lured away from her by House and murdered. It was all a sick game.

"N-n-no-"

"_You won't be saved. Meet your end, Amelia."_

"No, n-no, it's not… that's not him," she insisted, forcing herself to deny what she was seeing. "It's _not_, it can't be…"

"_Then where is your precious Time Lord? Why hasn't he come for you? He lies dead, just as you will."_

"N-no!"

A horrible, guttural sob escaped Amy's throat as she threw herself to the ground beside her broken raggedy man, violently trembling hands grabbing at soaked fabric.

She was cornered, the Doctor laid dead next to her and the TARDIS was non-functional. This was the end.

Panic filled the spaces that hope had occupied, and Amy Pond felt the floor fall out from under her as she grieved.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Hello everyone! Goodness, it's been ages since I updated, hasn't it? I had exams and such, but now that that's all over, expect more frequent updates. Anyway, as you can all probably tell, this is _my_ version of 'The Doctor's Wife', and so far, it's very similar. But, as usual, the ending will be quite different. Oh, and take careful note of that small snippet of a subplot happening there. It's very important.**

**As usual, thank you for all your support, and thank you for the reviews! :) x**


	17. Chapter 17

The Doctor thanked his lucky stars as he ran, finally catching sight of the TARDIS. It was surrounded by a strange green mist, curling up from the soil beneath them and twisting up the base of the dead time machine like a snake.

He'd certainly never tried to get around anything like this before.

Pulling his sonic screwdriver from his pocket, the Doctor pointed it straight towards the two doors and hoped for the best. Nothing - the sonic simply kept buzzing shrilly, and had no effect on the doors. Force simply wasn't going to work, either. Growling in frustration, he decided quickly that he had to find another way in.

Quickly remembering the next best way through the doors, the Doctor stared intently at them and snapped his fingers. The planet around him, strangely silent already, seemed to go completely still as the doors opened. The brilliant green light shone from inside the console room, and there was still not a sound to be heard apart from the creaking of the door hinges.

"Amy!" he called out into the console room. Could she hear him from where she was?

No answer. This absolutely was _not_ safe. Not in the slightest. This entire visit had been one of the deadliest traps that the Doctor had ever seen set.

The green mist seemed to be seeping up the staircase and into the TARDIS corridors, where it seemed that Amy must have escaped to. His stomach dropped, dreading what he would find when he went looking for her. It would be so easy to simply not look for her and assume the worst, to wait for the inevitable end to reach him.

But he was not willing to lose her that easily.

* * *

><p>Another corner. Another doorway. <em>Why are there so many bloody rooms in this thing?<em> He mentally cursed himself for being so ridiculously extravagant.

Small crevasses in the walls where green light was still visible told him that House was still occupying the TARDIS, but he was yet to hear that deep, disembodied voice. There was, of course, the possibility that it was still traumatising Amy.

The idea of that pushed him to keep going.

The Doctor heard a shrill wail coming from nearby, and began to move faster in pursuit of the source. It was definitely female. He assumed it to be Amy, but it was perfectly likely that the noises were of House's making. Until he saw where the noise was coming from, he would not assume he was on the right path. He refused to be fooled that easily.

The Doctor turned the next corner, and there Amy was.

She was lying on the floor in obvious distress, face-down and weeping bitterly, her wavy red hair fanned out around her. Her hands grasped around on the floor, as though she was trying to hold on to something. Each rise and fall of her chest as she breathed was a violent shake, her despair almost consuming her.

"Amy?"

Mid-sob, she tilted her head upwards, and the sound she was making came out garbled at the sight of the Doctor. Face contorted, she looked back at the floor and then at the Doctor, tears still pouring slowly from her eyes. Her breath now came in short, ragged bursts as she struggled to contain herself. She dragged herself into a kneeling position and whipped her head back-and-forth, wide-eyed at the Doctor and the place she had been lying.

_This is absolutely sick._

"Amy, what are you doing?"

"D-doctor, how are… you were…" she gasped, face streaked and panicked. "House told me y-you were dead, and I know what he was trying to do, but I-I… Doctor, you weren't here and I thought…"

Not bothering to finish her thought, Amy tossed herself roughly into the Doctor's arms, her hands clawing across his jacket to grab as much fabric as she was able to. She needed proof that he was really there, that this was really him. She needed a way out.

_Please be real._

He reached one arm around her waist and the other to the back of her head, patting her reassuringly. He most certainly _was_ there: his itchy tweed scratched at her face, stupid bowtie grazed across her cheek and mop of hair felt real. All of it was so him, so right. She breathed in deeply, catching his familiar scent and convincing herself that she was finally being given the real Doctor.

"I let him get inside my head, and I-I just panicked, Doctor. Just stop doing that to me, alright?" she murmured into his shoulder. "Just _stop _it. Never do that again."

"I seem to be making that promise a lot lately," he said back to her, making her give a shaky laugh in reply. He broke apart from her, now moving his hand from her waist to instead clutch her hand. She smiled and threw a light punch at his shoulder, a sign that she wasn't too cross with him.

"Explain to me what he's been doing, Amy. It's important."

"He's been chasing me around, trying to get me to hide. Then he sort of… you know, he started taunting me, telling me you were dead. I didn't want to believe it, but you were taking so long to get here, and I was starting to panic, Doctor. And then, I saw you, on the floor, just l-lying there…" she said in a single breath, beginning to stammer again as she recalled what she had seen. "Dead. You were dead, all covered in blood, and I… I just couldn't keep telling myself that it wasn't you, Doctor, it looked so _real_-"

"It's alright, it's okay now. I'm here, see? Now, Amy, have you heard him since I found you?"

"No, I haven't."

"Ooh, very not good. He's up to something now, I'd wager. So, what do we know so far? House wants the TARDIS. We know that much. He knows we've got the last one, and that's _really_ bad news. He wants me dead, and, since you're with me, and since he's already had a bit of fun at your expense, you're definitely on the list too. So, time to set the plan in action!" the Doctor told her, giving Amy a slight smile in a feeble attempt to cheer her up.

"What plan?"

"It's a plan in progress. Respect the plan! Now, come along, Pond!"

* * *

><p>"<em>It was kind of you to come back here, Time Lord. It makes things so much easier. Two pretty little birds with one stone."<em>

House's voice had made a sudden reappearance as the Doctor led Amy to what he told her was 'the perfect place to finish things'. Neither of the two of them answered him, and instead kept going, avoiding inconveniently set traps along their way. There had been multiple power outages, several cases of being separated by sliding doors, and again, in Amy's case, giant spaces of emptiness where the anti-grav had been turned off.

"_Oh, Doctor, you aren't nearly as much fun as Amelia Pond. You should have seen your companion, hollering back at me. Risked her neck several times trying to find a way out. But you see, there isn't a way out. I showed her that, too."_

The Doctor had stopped them in front of another sliding door, his face contorted with fury. House might not have been able to successfully trick the Doctor like Amy had been tricked, but his words were certainly making him angry. That was almost as dangerous as being fooled by his own mind - Amy had had enough experience to learn that when the Doctor became angry, he either had his biggest successes or made his most massive mistakes. She could only hope that this one would cause the former.

"_I told her that you're not always going to be there to save her, Time Lord. That's true, isn't it? Because you can't always save them. Did you tell her about everyone you ruined, Doctor? All those people who you stranded, all those people whose lives you destroyed, all those people who died-"_

"SHUT UP!"

"Oi! We've got more important things here, Doctor, so shut it and _stop letting him get to you_."

The Doctor closed his eyes and breathed in deeply, trying to calm himself down. "Back to business, Pond."

"Attaboy."

"Now, recognise these?" he asked her, pointing towards the doors in front of him.

_Was this something she was supposed to know?_ "Erm… they're doors without a control panel. Look, Doctor, if this is a dead-end, then we _really_ don't have the time-"

"No, no, they're opened telepathically. So, if I'm going to open these doors, I need to think of the password, which means that I'll be needing complete concentration. No distractions, alright?"

"Aye aye, captain. Officially on guard."

Amy turned away, her back towards the Doctor, and stood watch over the corridor, careful to be completely silent. She heard the rustling of the Doctor's jacket behind her for a second, and then, the sound of quiet murmuring.

The lights at the end of the corridor began to flicker.

She rubbed at her tiredeyes, wondering for a moment if she was imagining things. To be fair, she'd been awake for ages now, without a single moment of peace or rest in what felt like forever. The thought of a nice long nap was so promising…

Another light burnt out.

_What was going on?_

Remembering that she shouldn't turn around to consult the Doctor, Amy continually rubbed at her eyes to make sure that she truly wasn't imagining it. This wasn't necessarily anything bad. No, it could be something as simple as the fact that the bulbs were dying out. After all, the console room was totally dead, and the bulb on the top of the TARDIS had gone out, so was it completely impossible that these lights would eventually do the same?

_Of course_, she remembered_, the TARDIS is dead, meaning that House is controlling the lights._

_Perhaps it's time to worry_.

The next light flickered out. There simply wasn't any doubting that there was something serious happening. House had stopped speaking to them as well, and he was simply not going to sit around and _watch_ them, no - he was going to put more obstacles in their path. It all added up.

Amy was now aware that only four or so of the lights in the hall were left, making it difficult for her to even see things directly around her. She was going to have to break her promise to the Doctor now, there was no doubt about it.

"Doctor," she whispered, trying to make as small a disturbance as possible. "Doctor, we have a problem."

She still heard him muttering to himself, now a bit louder to drown out the sound of her voice. As he did so, the hall became even darker. Confusing her further, a figure seemed to appear at the end of the hall, eyes glowing a bright emerald green, along with a sphere held in the figure's hand.

Nephew.

"Doctor. Doctor, _please_-"

There were now only two dim green lights left, with one flickering near her. Nephew was moving at a disturbingly quick pace down the corridor towards them, his horrible green eyes coming ever closer…

Amy felt absolutely sick to her stomach at the final light went out, plunging them both into darkness. As far as she could hear, the Doctor had not managed to open the doors yet - now that she thought about it, she couldn't even hear the rustling of his clothing, or his quiet murmurings. Panicked, she tried to reach out to find him in the darkness, but instead, found something cold and rubbery at her fingertips as she raised her arm.

Suddenly, those haunting green eyes were directly in front of her face, far too close for comfort, and Amy realised she was touching Nephew's tentacles. Screaming out, Amy stumbled backwards, straight into the Doctor's arms.

"Amy! The doors are open!"

As though she had imagined the whole thing, Amy was now aware that the lights in the hallway were not dark at all. In fact, they were the same brightness they had been when the Doctor first told Amy to keep watch. The Doctor had been behind her all along, though she had not heard him. Nephew the Ood, however, was very real, but disappeared from her view as the doors slid shut behind them.

"Oh god, isn't there a way to keep him out of our heads?" she queried. "It's getting old fast."

"Not that I've figured out yet, no. I'm assuming that you saw something in the hallway, and that was why you kept on interrupting me? Our best bet is to keep with the plan and avoid him as best we can."

"Are you _sure_ you know what you're doing?"

"'Course I do. Time Lord, remember?" the Doctor told her proudly, puffing out his chest.

"That doesn't mean anything, _remember_?" Amy countered, mimicking his voice. "It's just what your species is called. It doesn't mean you know what you're doing. Where are we, anyway?"

Amy had become aware that they were no longer in the TARDIS hallways, but were instead in a completely different, far more beautiful room. She could not remember ever being in here in her time in the TARDIS, yet the whole place somehow felt very familiar. The giant panel of controls in the middle of the room told her that his was some sort of alternate console room. Why was there _another_ console room?

This one was almost nothing like the console room she was used to. The lights were very dim in here, though not green, as they were in every other room in the TARDIS. The walls had similar shape holes in them, but many other things were far more advanced in the usual console room. The controls here seemed somewhat more basic, including a far less complex time rotor, the flooring did not seem to show any signs of an area underneath where one could sit, and there were gigantic coral beams that led up to the ceiling.

"Old console room. Sit tight, Amy. Everything's going correctly, and hopefully, if this turns out the way I think it will, then there'll be a perfect solution to all of this."

"You'd better not be lying, mister. You're sure this is going to work."

"…I'm pretty sure. On a scale of 1 to 10, I'd say I'm about… a 7."

"_Seven?_ As surprising as this might be to you, Doctor, that's not very comforting."

"_I think it's very comforting, Amy."_

House seemed to have finally managed to penetrate their new hiding place. Peering over at the Doctor to reassure herself that this was all fine, that they were completely safe, Amy noticed the Doctor give a heavy swallow before beginning to speak.

"Well, you're not a very nice host, I must say. Probably one of the worst I've ever had. Though, to be fair, you aren't the first host that's tried to kill me! I was once on a-"

"_Why should I wait for your stories when I could kill the both of you, right here and right now?"_

For the first time, the Doctor met Amy's gaze and held it. She could tell that he was, despite how he came across with his words, extremely nervous about this. She thought it impossible to judge him over it, as she was just as worried about the whole thing as he was. Narrowing his eyes slightly, Amy watched as the Doctor once again masked his true inner terror and addressed House once again.

"I'll tell you why, so listen up! This TARDIS, which you lured here - and don't tell me you didn't - is dead. I understand now why you want them. You want out of this universe, don't you? I'm your last chance, and that's why you want us dead. You want to take this TARDIS and go back to our real universe, only you can't do that with a dead time machine! That's where we come in! Now, how about a deal? You keep the two of us alive, you refuel the ship, and we'll take you back into our universe. After that, you can do with us what you like. Deal?"

House began to chuckle, a deep, unsettling noise. _"That's a far more interesting idea than what I had planned. You have a deal, Time Lord."_

Amy, however, wasn't so sure that the Doctor's plan was a good one. House was conniving and willing to do anything to kill them. Why would he agree to such a plan? He was

"Alright! Now, time to talk about refuelling. See, there are lots of old rooms saved in this TARDIS, and they take up lots of energy! We can spare quite a few, can't we, Amy?"

Startled by the Doctor suddenly including her in his conversation, Amy racked her brains for an answer. "Oh, yes! There are _loads_ of bedrooms that we don't even go near. And there's that squash court you haven't been to in ages, Doctor."

"See?" the Doctor exclaimed, raising his hands up to the ceiling of the console room. "Look, loads of energy you can get back into this old girl! In fact, you know what? If you delete 30% of the rooms in here, you can get _plenty_ of fuel! How about it?"

"_Splendid idea, Time Lord. But where to start first? Oh, I know. How about this archived console room?"_

Amy whirled to find the Doctor, who was now standing with his arms lowered, still staring at the ceiling with a look of utmost horror on his face. "I… no, that wasn't part of the deal, House. Are you listening? The deal was-"

"_Oh, maybe we could have a little fun first,"_ House continued, cutting the Doctor off mid-sentence. _"Perhaps I could simply remove all the oxygen from the room."_

As though the whole room was connected to a vacuum, the oxygen disappeared. Clutching at her throat, Amy found herself with the urge to scream out, but no sound could escape her lips. Her mind began to spin and a dull ache pounded at either side of her head, compressing her head. All she could hear was screeching coming from inside her head, like whistles and the squawking of birds, raising in pitch and volume with each second. The pain was becoming absolutely intolerable, but she was absolutely helpless. Nobody was coming, and she was going to die in complete agony, convulsing on the floor as she prayed for air.

Then, like a miracle, her prayers were answered as her lungs filled with glorious oxygen. Amy inhaled deeply, breathing in desperately in case she never got the chance again. She heard the Doctor's ragged breathing beside her and she plunged her arm outwards, grabbing a fistful of tweed, and pulled herself closer to him.

"_I could even play with gravity."_

Their oxygen had not vanished as it had before, but the sensation was very similar this time. Both of them felt as though they were being pinned down to the console floor, the weight of gravity almost unbearable on them, Amy's head and chest screamed in agony, begging to be released from the pain, and she began to do the same.

"Please! Please, stop, PLEASE!"

For the second time, the Doctor and Amy were brought violently back into reality, both of their bodies in agony from the strain of House's torture. The ache in her head seemed to spread across her whole body, and Amy could hardly even raise her head as House spoke.

"_Very well, then. I haven't the time for sentiment, anyway. Goodbye, Amy Pond. Goodbye, Time Lord."_

* * *

><p>When Amy opened her eyes once again, she found herself in the normal console room, lying on the floor beside the Doctor. The two of them scrambled into standing positions, limbs wobbling from their abuse in the old console room. Things appeared to be partially normal once again - Amy could hear the familiar whirring of the controls and the time rotor, though both sounded broken. She supposed that this was because they were still being overridden by House.<p>

Absolutely clueless as to how they had been saved, Amy turned to ask the Doctor. He too looked completely shocked, but appeared to be positively gleeful about it. He then began to laugh as he balanced himself, his whole face breaking into a bright grin.

"See, what I _didn't_ tell you was that the TARDIS has an emergency failsafe. Any inhabitants of a deleted room come straight back into the console room! Hah!" he cried, clapping his hands together and looking happier than Amy had seen him in a long time. "Pretty good acting, wouldn't you say?"

"_It doesn't matter to me, Time Lord, how you were saved. The deletion of those rooms gave us the necessary fuel. As we're now in your universe, you won't even be alive a minute longer."_

"Doctor, what's the rest of the plan?" Amy muttered under her breath.

He paused for nearly a minute before answering, as though he was thinking hard about what to tell her. When he finally did respond, his voice was low. "There isn't one."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: I'm back! I can blame this absence on laziness and a complete and utter lack of inspiration, which, in case it wasn't obvious, I've now picked up again. SO. Thank you all for your lovely reviews (and thank you especially to those that leave anonymous reviews. I wish I could reply to you all, but alas, I don't have that option!), and thank you for your continued support, even with a careless author such as I! **

**Oh, and one last thing: there is a way out of this. I've got it sorted out, and you can actually figure out what the way out is, if you look carefully. There is a specific bit of wording in here that seems like a throwaway line, but is actually a big hint about what the solution is. Gold star for you if you can find it, haha!**

**x**


	18. Chapter 18

The words sank inside of Amy like a stone. _There isn't one_. There was no next part of the plan. This was it. No way out.

"What do you mean, there isn't one? You told me-"

"Yes, Amelia, I know what I told you. I thought I'd have worked one out by now, but I haven't, and I am so, _so_ sorry," the Doctor murmured, making sure he kept his voice low, "but I think I know what's going on. Can you pretend he's won for a little bit? There might be another way."

"_There might be another way?_" Amy repeated, her voice rising. "_There might be another way? _This is a joke. Tell me this is a joke."

"Amy-"

She cut him off. They were seconds from being killed - for good, this time - and he was making guesses at what could save them. And even worse, he wouldn't even explain them to her. She was being kept in the dark, even about what would become of her own life.

"No, Doctor, this isn't fair!" Amy screamed out, grabbing roughly at his jacket despite how it scratched at her skin. "You said we'd be okay!"

She found herself, and not for the first time recently, thinking about what she was about to leave behind. Her co-workers, friends and family - none of them would ever know what happened to her. She would never go back to work after her Christmas holidays, instead leaving that desk at reception empty. She would never go home to that cramped little flat, or see that tiny coffee shop in the alleyway. It was all so trivial, but the thought of them all made her heart ache.

"_Goodbye, little human. Goodbye, Time Lord, once and for all_."

House's voice made it all the more terrifying, and Amy began to panic when she saw how close they were to losing everything.

"Doctor!"

The noises had started again - shrill in her ears, the sounds so sharp that they seemed to pierce deep inside her ears. It was horrible, and Amy had the strangest sensation that the noises were coming from both inside and outside of her head, both crushing her, twisting her this way and that. She began to scream, only adding to the noise that tortured her, but it was all she could do.

And then, like a miracle, there was silence.

* * *

><p>Black. Complete darkness.<p>

This was unlike what Amy had expected death to feel like. There was nothing there, but she could still hear… and feel. She could feel her arms and her legs. She could feel her entire body, still fully intact, but she couldn't see herself, or anything around her. Was this the Void that the Doctor had mentioned to her in passing? What state of being was this?

Could this just be _nothing_?

Perhaps she was in some sort of limbo - not completely passed on, but too far gone from the life that had been taken from her. Would it always be so empty, so hopelessly dark in this new place? There was no light beckoning her onwards, no figures of people she'd lost. There was no indication of where she was or where she was meant to go.

What perplexed her the most was that her sense of hearing was perfectly intact, and that every sound that reached her ear seemed so familiar. There was a gentle whirring and buzzing. The quiet humming of a very familiar engine also met her ears. No, that wasn't possible.

But it _was_.

With all the strength she was able to find in herself, she forced herself to wade through the darkness that was wrapped tightly around her. Amy Pond found her eyes, and her black surroundings ebbed away as she forced opened her eyes.

She was lying on her back on the glass floor of the TARDIS, limbs aching from being uncomfortably curled for so long. Her hair was fanned out around her, soft waves tickling her cheeks with each slight movement of her head. The humming that she had heard moments before was here, and never before had she been so glad to hear the sound of those engines. Rustling to her right told her that the Doctor had awoken as well, and she instantly remembered what he had done to bring them back.

Sounding groggy, the Doctor called out to her from his place on the glass floor beside her. "Amy? Are you alright?"

Rolling over to face him, Amy thrust her hands out to touch the glass floor, so as to balance herself. Forcing herself to sit up, she replied with a muffled, "Yeah."

"Ah, good! I suppose you've got questions, so let me just show you the answer to all of them."

The Doctor ran over towards the console as Amy hoisted herself upwards and stood, waiting for the Doctor's explanation. She could feel her anger beginning to rise, and turning, she saw him leaning against the console, his face smug and proud.

"A speck of psychic pollen from the candle meadows of Karass don Slava. Must have been hanging around for ages. Fell in the time rotor, heated up and induced a dream state for us."

As if that answered all of her questions.

Amy was about to speak, but held her tongue as the Doctor darted past her down the steps and towards the doors. He opened them and Amy saw, even from back at the console that they were in deep space, simply drifting through the endless expanse of stars that she was now so used to. He held his hand out of the doors and blew lightly on his palm, sending small, sparkling specks of what looked like dust out into space, never to bother them again.

What was absolutely infuriating was that he simply didn't seem to realise what he had done, nor did he have the faintest inclination that Amy was upset. In fact, he was damn near _elated_. As he hurriedly rushed past her, Amy followed him, and the Doctor didn't even notice when she stood directly behind him, arms crossed and expression dark.

The Doctor did a little jump of fright upon turning around and seeing how close Amy was to him. Retaining her glare, Amy sat herself down in the doorway, her legs swinging out into space and stared up at him.

"We need to talk, mister. Sit," Amy demanded, smacking her hand down on the space beside her.

For a moment, Amy was unsure where to begin. So many emotions were wreaking havoc through her at the same time, so many that conflicted and fought with her mind. She was lucky to be alive, and yet, she had been alive the whole time. What was there to fear? How could she _ever_ know what to fear, if the Doctor kept her in the dark about so much? Did he trust her at all? Did he know how she felt? No, none of it made sense, and Amy shook her head to clear it and locate the words she needed.

The Doctor, on the other hand, now wary of what was coming, lowered himself hesitantly to the ground and sat beside her. His eyes darted quickly between the clusters of stars before them and Amy's face, wondering which one was going to cause him less harm. Deciding it was best to not say anything and wait for the inevitable, he continued this for the good part of a minute before Amy sighed heavily - and swung at him, her hand smacking hard against her shoulder.

"Ow!"

"You deserved that! What was that back there? You don't tell me the truth, even if it's something I need to know. You don't let me help you, you don't include me in your plans. In fact, think back, Doctor. You sent me back to the TARDIS in that… dream thing, just so I could stay out of your hair for a while. We're a team, I'm not just your useless little assistant, Doctor."

He did not argue, realising that this would go better if he let her get all of her thoughts across first. From what he could tell, these were thoughts and ideas that had been sitting in Amy Pond's mind for quite some time, simply waiting to be set free. They seemed to pour from her mouth, and she hardly even took a breath between them.

"And, look, I get that it's a timing thing sometimes," Amy insisted, throwing her hands up defensively. "I understand that. And yes, sometimes it's just because you want to show off," she said with a snort.

He did not deny it.

"When it's so that you can look cool, or whatever, you know I'm not putting up with it. But when it's something like that, when it's something that means I live or die, and you won't explain what's going on, that's _really_ not fair."

He nodded and leaned over to rest his chin on his hands, his eyes closed as though he was in deep thought. He understood what Amy was telling him perfectly well.

"You can't just do that to me, okay? We're doing a horrible job of trusting each other, and we need to fix that. I always worry that you're going to get us both killed, but… I know you would never do that. I know you're always gonna do everything you can to save us, no matter what," she told him. "You've always saved us."

Amy was already feeling her anger begin to melt away, and all because she finally had somewhere to vent what she felt. Perhaps bottling everything up wasn't the best way of doing things after all, just as she had suspected for quite some time.

It wasn't often that the Doctor got a glimpse into the workings of Amelia Pond's heart, making this confession of complete faith a remarkable one. He broke his thoughtful meditation and smiled, reaching his arm around her shoulders to pat her back reassuringly.

"'Course I have. And _you_ are tche magnificent Amelia Pond-"

"That makes me sound like a magician," she scoffed, cutting the Doctor off and screwing up her face as she looked back at him.

"You've got your own sort of magic, Pond. You're _magnificent_, as I said. And you're completely right, as ashamed as I am to admit that."

"Ashamed that you have to admit that to me, or ashamed that it's true?"

Again, she was hitting the nail right on the head.

"Ashamed that I do it. I know you'd never do that to me, so I should never do that to you. I'm sorry."

"Thanks."

They let a silence fall between them as the TARDIS drifted along, and they watched the beauties of the universe with curious eyes before Amy spoke again.

"I've got some more questions about it all, though."

"Ask what you want, just avoid attacking me this time."

She rolled her eyes at him before speaking. "You said it was psychic pollen or something, yeah? Feeds on the darkness in our heads? I understand that much, but what I'm not getting is what the hell happened back there, Doctor. I don't understand why we ended up _dead_, that's what I'm saying."

Feeling her gaze on his face, the Doctor kept his eyes fixed out into space, doing his best not to indicate that he was uncomfortable. The answers were, of course, incredibly telling for the both of them.

"It feeds on the darkness, as you said, and that's what makes it so dangerous. All of our deepest fears, our regrets, all of the things we hate about ourselves: they all come out. That bubble universe was a combination of the darkness in both of our heads, and clearly, that's enough to be lethal."

"What darkness have I got in me, then?" she whispered, listening to his words with rapt attention. Her question was directed more to herself than it was to him, but the Doctor chose to answer it anyway.

"The Ood was one of them. I rather like the Ood, Pond. It's you that seems to have an issue with them."

She gave a small, quick laugh, her face almost immediately returning to the sombre expression it had held before. "I got that one. The other ones, I… I think I understand them a bit."

"You do?"

"No need to sound so surprised. They're kind of obvious, now that I think about it. I nearly died a couple of times, with no way out that I could think of. Then there's the Ood, obviously. Then I saw you _dead_," she spat out, as though the words themselves were as horrible as the act, "and then… I remember thinking about my family. About everyone and everything I left behind. They would never have known I was dead."

She was aware that the Doctor was watching her again, but he seemed to be looking at her differently this time. As he had been for the past several minutes, he appeared to be deep in thought, but there was a new light in his eyes, as though realisation had just struck him.

"What is it?"

He blinked and rubbed at his eyes, making Amy unable to see what was now on his mind. "Nothing, nothing," he insisted, his voice a little quieter this time. "Keep going."

"Well, erm, there are others that I can think of, but they're not mine," she began, speaking cautiously as if waiting for him to stop her. When he did not, she continued.

"I could sort of tell that when you realised we were going to die, you looked sort of..." she paused, trying to find the most delicate word. "Scared. I've never seen you like that. Same with when the TARDIS died. You just looked so trapped. You're scared of being unprepared, of having no way out after all. And then there was those little box things," Amy added. "Those distress signals from the Time Lords. There was hope there of you having others of your kind out there in the stars, so I guess… you're scared of being alone."

After hundreds of years of keeping things to himself, he had unknowingly bared his soul to her. There were things she had missed, of course, but he did not bring them up, deciding instead to keep them to himself.

"You know, you always act like you're completely alone out there, but you just don't get it, do you? You're the last Time Lord, but you're definitely not alone. You have so many friends in this universe, Doctor, so many people that care. You've got all of the people you've brought with you, and all of the people you've saved all over the universe. Don't even think that you're all by yourself, because you aren't, okay? And hell, if you can't accept any of that, just remember that you've got me," Amy insisted, her eyes beginning to tear up again. "Always remember that."

The Doctor had no idea what to say. He knew that he was the last of his kind, that much was clear, and he also knew that there were people in the universe that cared. But for Amy to tell him that he was never, _ever_ going to be alone, and that she was always going to care… that was a new feeling.

He said nothing to her, not because he did not want to - he wanted to find the right words more than anything. The words simply would not come. Hoping that actions would suffice, the Doctor wrapped his arms around her and hugged her tightly, slightly rocking them both back and forth

"I'm such a sap. Look at me, you've got me crying all the time now," Amy mumbled as she moved one of her hands up towards her face. "I don't think I signed up for this."

Amy felt the Doctor laugh into her hair as she held him close, his usually frantic hands rubbing comfortingly across her back. "Crying is good sometimes, you know. Humany-wumany."

"You make everything sound so much better than it is."

"That's 'cause everything _is_ so much better thank you think it is! You humans, you don't see it, do you? You're all so remarkable. You're a race full of ingenuity, strength and love, and none of you notice. It's amazing. I suppose it's because I'm not one of you, but I have to say, you lot are my favourite species."

"Now we sound like a science experiment," she laughed. "You're like a little kid, watching fish in an aquarium. Everything's just so fascinating to you. You make _me_ feel like a kid most of the time, you know."

"What's wrong with that? Nothing's more fun than two kids off to see the universe, eh?"

"Speaking of the universe, where are we off to next?"

The Doctor tapped at his chin and stared upwards. "Hmm. Shall we see where she takes us this time?"

"Sounds perfect," Amy told him, flashing her biggest grin yet.

The Doctor gently moved both of his hands to either side of Amy's face, and she closed her eyes as he kissed her forehead. Eyes still closed, Amy heard him pull away and laugh under his breath, the tips of his fingers brushing her hair away from her face.

As the Doctor shifted to sit facing out of the doors again, Amy opened her eyes once more. She saw the orange glow of the console against his back and the light of the stars before them sparkling in the Doctor's eyes, and she had to smile too. She'd had a heart-to-heart with an alien whilst floating around in a spaceship. That was definitely something to write home about.

She rested her head on his shoulder, letting her hair fall in gentle waves down the front of his jacket. They both continued to look out into the night, both still hungry to see the universe. It was ridiculous to Amy that it was all endless, that they could visit every planet the Doctor could name and there would _still_ be new ones there, just waiting for them to take the first steps. Of course, there would be running. And plenty of danger.

She _was_ going to see her family again. She _was_ going to see Daisy and her cramped space at reception. She_ was _going to see her tiny little flat and the coffee shop in the alleyway.

But perhaps she could wait a while longer for all of that.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** **This is a very Amy-centric chapter, haha. A lot of the points the Doctor and Amy cover here are things I've been meaning to get into for ages now, so I figured I'd get it all out in one go! Anyway, thank you all very much for the reviews, both signed and anonymous (unfortunately, I can't reply to those of you that review anon, but I appreciate you all the same!). They're wonderfully kind, and very motivational. So again, thank you! We'll be getting back to the adventures next chapter! :) x**


	19. Chapter 19

"You know, I thought the point of the whole time machine thing was to get to places that are actually, you know, _different_. If I wanted a snowstorm, you could've taken me back to London for the day."

The Doctor had landed the TARDIS that day on what appeared to be a desolate, snowy planet. Upon telling Amy (somewhat vaguely) to dress warmly, she bundled herself in a rather unbecoming parka, one lined with huge tufts of fur, tugged a woolly hat over her wavy ginger locks and followed the Doctor out into the barren landscape.

"Oh, pish posh, Pond. I'll admit, it is a tad on the chilly side, but that's why you've got this!" the Doctor exclaimed, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and giving her a tight side-hug. "Just look around! We've got a whole planet to explore here."

Amy smirked and pulled her hat down further. "We could have at least come back during their summer season."

"Ah, well, I'm afraid they don't have one! This is Eira 12, home to year-round snow and a relatively small population."

"Relatively?"

"It fluctuates. There are people that live here year-round, but you occasionally get tourists in the summer."

"I thought you said there wasn't a summer season."

"Well, not _here_, per se, but the summer seasons on other planets. Heat does get tiring after a while. Now, are we going to just stand here, or are we going to look around?"

Before Amy could answer him, the Doctor had darted off as quickly as he could through the snow, whooping like a child as he jumped in the largest nearby snowdrift. He toppled forwards with a small yelp of surprise and disappeared into the drift, leaving Amy laughing behind him.

That was perhaps the most beautiful thing about this planet so far, Amy grudgingly admitted to herself. There was nothing more magical than a field of untouched, sparkling, pure white snow. She couldn't remember the last time she'd seen such a thing back home in London. She might have seen it in Leadworth, perhaps, but certainly not in London.

"Bit cold, isn't it? What happened to looking around?" she called out, standing on her tiptoes to get a glimpse of him.

"S'alright!" the Doctor yelled back, his voice a bit muffled by the snow. He popped back up into a standing position and dusted the white powder from the tweed as best he could. "I'm just testing out the terrain. Lovely stuff, just right. You could make brilliant snowmen with this. Snowballs, too. Care to join me?"

"I prefer being up here where I'm not wet and cold, thank you."

"I keep telling you, if you wore trousers, we wouldn't have this problem all the time."

She peered down at her legs. Perhaps a short skirt and tights wasn't the best choice for this climate. But how was she to know that he was taking her to a snow-covered planet if he had been so secretive about it? Besides, there was still no way that she was going to admit to him that he was right.

"I'm better dressed than you, anyway. You haven't even got a proper coat on!"

The Doctor shrugged nonchalantly and hopped out of the snowdrift, bits of remaining snow flying off as he leapt out.

"No matter. Come along, Pond!" he said cheerily. Linking arms with Amy, they set off through the snow into uncharted territory.

It always felt so nice to be on good terms with the Doctor. He was the most childlike adult she'd ever met, and when there wasn't anything to be annoyed with him about, Amy began to feel almost childlike herself in his presence.

She had begun to find that she was getting on even better with the Doctor now than she ever had before. Her talk with him not too long ago seemed to have let out a lot of problems the both of them had once had. If anything, Amy thought that there seemed to be a lot more trust between them: he let her in on what he was planning more often now (that is, when he actually _had_ a genuine plan and wasn't just making it up as he went along), and occasionally, he'd let her know how he was feeling. That was definitely something new.

The pair trudged through the deep blanket of snow around them for several minutes before Amy admitted to herself that she had no idea where they were going, or what they were even doing on this particular planet. The Doctor hadn't brought it up at all, but then again, he wouldn't, would he?

"Doctor?"

"Mmm."

"What exactly are we doing?"

"Exploring," he told her, after a moment's hesitation. This was, of course, far too vague an answer for Amy to accept.

"You didn't mean for us to come here, did you?"

Another pause.

"Doctor?"

"Oh, alright, this was a mistake. But at least I know where we are, eh? And, you'll be happy to know that I've got a pretty good idea of what's here, so we're not going to have to go bumbling around."

"Well, mister know-it-all, is there anything more than _that_?"

The Doctor looked to see where Amy was now pointing: a small group of several dozen basic, wooden single-level houses was in front of them, and the Doctor could just make out a couple of people outside. Humanoid, just as he had thought they would be!

He'd known that the population of Eira 12 was small, but he certainly hadn't thought that it was _this_ small. Did people really come here on holiday? It was horribly desolate, but then again, he supposed that there were people that would enjoy the peace and quiet. He could understand that. The snow, however, would probably get old very fast.

After he and Amy had walked a few feet closer to the houses, the Doctor called out in greeting to the people huddled together, all of whom turned to see their new guests. Amy gave a tiny little wave and a nervous smile, which some of the children in the group mirrored.

"Hiya!" the nearest young boy called out to them in greeting, grinning widely. "We haven't had anyone new here in days! Are you here on holiday?"

Amy took in the people in front of them. There was the small boy that had just spoken up, who couldn't be more than seven years old. Around him were several other small children of roughly the same age and multiple adults, all of whom were bundled up in winter clothing like hers. She held back from nudging the Doctor and pointing out that he was _still_ the one that was dressed incorrectly, but she held back.

"Yeah, I suppose you could say we're on holiday," the Doctor told the boy, crouching down to meet his eye. "I'm the Doctor, and this is Amy. How many of you are here?"

The boy looked around at the other people around him, screwed up his face for a brief moment, and answered, "'bout twenty, including me, I think. It's nice and quiet. There's loads of empty houses, if you're going to stay."

The words 'loads of empty houses' stuck in the Doctor's mind immediately. So there _were_ less people here than there were supposed to be. "Just how many empty houses, would you say?"

"Oh, loads! Probably 'bout a hundred, or more! I think a lot of people lived here one, but they're all gone," he told the Doctor promptly, looking as though he felt very important for knowing this. "I dunno how long they've been gone, but there's not a lot left from them, so probably a while."

"William, I'm sure the man doesn't want to hear all about some ruins on his holiday," a voice behind the boy scolded. A woman came through the group and put her hands on William's shoulders, smiling at the Doctor and Amy. "I'm Andromeda. William was right, there's plenty of room for you and your wife to stay."

Amy, who hadn't spoken to the crowd at all yet, began to correct Andromeda. "Oh, we're not-"

"Thank you, Andromeda," the Doctor said rather loudly, cutting Amy off mid-sentence. "William's not a bother, don't worry. My, er- wife and I were under the impression that there were a lot more people here. A year-round settlement, actually."

"Some of us live here year round, but other than that, nobody else. If you're actually interested in all of that, you could go see the ruins for yourself. It looks like there were a lot of people living here quite some time ago, but they've up and left."

Amy looked over at the Doctor to find him deep in thought. She didn't think anything of the fact that there were less people - in fact, she found it to be rather relaxing - but the Doctor seemed to think it was significant. Annoyingly, he usually turned out to be right about his suspicions.

"Could you show me where they are?" the Doctor asked quickly, sounding curious. "Amy, I'll be right back. Don't wander off, alright?"

Amy nodded without really listening. The Doctor telling her not to wander off was out of habit, anyway. She never really heeded his warnings, and he always found himself scolding her for it.

"Are you sure you wouldn't rather find a house first?" Andromeda asked him.

"There's plenty of time for that," the Doctor told her with a wave of his hand. "I'm really quite interested in those ruins at the moment. If you don't want to come, that's alright, you could just tell me where they are, and-"

Andromeda, sounding aghast at the idea of leaving new guests to fend for themselves, insisted that she would take the Doctor to the ruins. Amy thought that she didn't _really_ want to take him anywhere, but didn't want to come across as being impolite to the new guests.

Before leaving with the Doctor, Andromeda turned back to face her son. "Oh, William, show the young lady to a house. Make sure it's a nice one!"

With a roll of his eyes, William agreed to his mother's demand and stood with Amy as they watched Andromeda and the Doctor head off into the snow beyond their group of houses.

"He'll be glad to visit those ruins," Amy told the little boy next to her. "There's nothing he loves more than exploring. That, and telling me to stay behind whilst he goes off and has fun, apparently."

William looked up at the newcomer beside him, his small eyes sparkling with wonder. "He probably just wants to make sure you're really safe." He then paused for a moment, before adding, "I've never seen red hair before, miss. Where are you from?"

"Earth," she told him with a smile. "Far, far away from here."

His eyes went as wide as saucers. "Really? Oh, wow, I've always wanted to see Earth! Mummy and daddy buy me loads of books about Earth. Is it nice there?"

"Yeah. There's a lot of people, too, so it's really different from here. But we still get snow, so we're not completely far off."

"It's a good thing you're used to snow, because it kind of piles up in front of the unused houses, and someone's gotta help me clear it. Wanna go look now?"

William turned on his heel towards the unoccupied houses, making his way easily through the trampled-down snow. Amy followed closely behind, noticing that all of the people that had been crowded around had silently dispersed back to where they'd been before, but those that were still outside stared at her hair with curiosity in their eyes. She didn't think that she'd ever get used to people being in awe of her hair, of all things.

* * *

><p>It hardly even took William and Amy a minute to find a nice little house where the majority of the snow had already been cleared. As neither of them had any shovels or anything else they could use, they moved the remaining snow with their hands. Amy was secretly rather pleased with herself for having the sense to put on gloves before she'd left the TARDIS.<p>

The front of the house cleared of snow, William took Amy inside, where she saw just how cosy the little wooden houses were. The interior was wooden as well, complete with wooden furniture to match. It was very cramped, but very warm and comfortable.

"Is your husband from Earth, too?"

William, Amy was beginning to find, was a very inquisitive little boy. The entire time they looked for a house, cleared the front and looked around inside, he asked her question after question about her home planet: the people, the animals, the sky, the weather, everything. It felt very odd to her to describe her home and see someone become so awestruck, as though the planet Earth was something amazing compared to everything else out there in the Universe.

It also felt very odd for everyone to say 'your husband'. Amy thought that she should probably play along with everyone else, as the Doctor had intended her to, but she would tell William the truth. He didn't seem the gossiping type.

"Do you want to know a secret? The Doctor's not my husband. We're just friends. And no, he's not from Earth, actually. He's from a planet really far away, even farther away than Earth, but his planet's long gone now."

"So he's all alone?"

Amy nodded. "Yeah. He's the last of his kind."

"He's really lucky that he's got you."

She gave a tiny little laugh and looked down at her boots as William continued.

"Is he a real Doctor?"

Amy shook her head. "Nah, not as far as I know. He's a lot of things, but I'm pretty positive that he's not a real Doctor. He does like to try his best to help people, though."

"D'you think he could help us?"

The idea that these people needed help with something was news to Amy, who turned, confused, to face William again. "With what?"

"Mummy always says I'm being silly, but…" he trailed off, looking off into the snow.

He paused for nearly a minute, but Amy did not push him to answer immediately. She wasn't sure whether he was pausing for dramatic effect to impress her, or if he was debating in his head if he should even be telling her anything.

"But sometimes, if I'm being really quiet, and I put my ear on the ground like this," he told her, suddenly dropping to the ground and demonstrating what he meant to her, "then I can hear something."

"Like what?"

"I dunno. It's this sort of… rumbling. Loud bangs sometimes, too. And it's not our ships, I checked. They're not making those noises."

"Is there something underground?"

William stood up and shrugged. "I dunno. There might be, but nobody's ever said anything about it. You'd have to go exploring to find out, I guess. My mummy _always_ says I'm not supposed to go wandering off very far, but sometimes I do when she's busy. I like exploring. There's not a lot of stuff here to look at, but there are some things. A few days ago, I found a really weird door near here."

That certainly grabbed Amy's attention.

"A door, eh? What sort of door?"

"A metal one. A big one too, but it was on the ground, and it was all covered in snow. I couldn't get it to open. I'm not big enough," William told her with an injured tone to his voice. "I'm never big enough to do anything. It's no fun."

A door leading underground? So there _was_ something there. That sounded far more interesting than waiting around for the Doctor to get back from the ruins. With a mischievous glint in her eye, Amy grinned at William.

"Hey, I'm big enough. Want to go have some fun?"

* * *

><p>"How long would you say they've been empty for?"<p>

Andromeda and the Doctor walked for several minutes before they reached the carefully planned out houses which, the Doctor finally saw for himself, truly were abandoned. Snow had begun to pile up in gigantic mounds in the area, the majority of it on the roofs of the houses, most of which had collapsed under the strain. Walls were worn down, interiors were coated in thick layers of white, and apart from the noise Andromeda and the Doctor were making, everything was completely silent.

"A few years, give or take," Andromeda answered him, looking at the caved-in houses. "There's nobody here that knows for sure. The people that have settled here recently say that it's only been them on this planet, as long as they've been here. Eira 12 has been deserted for a long time."

The Doctor nodded and edged into the doorway of the nearest house, peering around. "The weird bit is that they don't seem to have left anything behind, apart from the houses. They've taken everything and left. But why?"

"Perhaps the population dwindled and they moved somewhere else?"

"Maybe," the Doctor replied, taking his sonic screwdriver out of his jacket. "But even in ghost towns, there are usually things left behind. This is just _empty_."

He pointed the sonic at the house and a high buzzing sound filled the air. Andromeda, who was very close to it, clapped a hand over one ear and stared at the Doctor.

"What're you doing?"

"Scanning. There doesn't seem to be anything unusual going on here," he told her, pulling the sonic away and looking at it with narrowed eyes. "But I'm getting readings of… massive amounts of movement. But that's not possible, it's just us."

"Maybe another house is going to cave in."

"No, I don't think that's it. Listen, Andromeda, are you absolutely _sure_ it's just you and those others we met here? There's nothing else? Nothing out of the ordinary going on here?"

"No, there's not anything, as far as I know."

The Doctor nodded and turned his back to her again, preparing to scan around the house with the sonic. He stopped, however, when he heard Andromeda meekly stammer out a different answer.

"A-Actually, there is something. But it's silly, I feel stupid even telling you about it."

He stepped closer to her and, very seriously, stared her straight in the eyes. "What is it?"

"Well, all the time, William says that he hears noises. I just tell him that he's imagining it, and I don't even believe him myself, but he's convinced that he hears things when he's near the ground."

The Doctor nodded and considered what he knew. No matter how things appeared on the snowy surface of Eira 12, there was _something_ strange about this place. Why would an entire population simply disappear and take everything with them? Why would the sonic screwdriver be picking up readings of movement in an empty ghost town? And what exactly was going on underground?

"Andromeda, I think it's time we had a proper chat with William."

* * *

><p>William took Amy to a trampled-down patch of snow several yards away, where Amy could clearly see a large, shining metal door in the ground. One swift tug on the handles told Amy that William had been right about the door - it was going to be tricky to open.<p>

"Want to help me out with something, William?"

The little boy's eyes brightened at the idea. "Sure!"

"Alright, I'm going to grab this handle," she motioned to the handle to the right, "and I need you to grab the other handle. When I tell you to pull, I want you to pull it open as hard as you possibly can, alright?"

William nodded and went over to the handle, grasping it firmly with both hands. Amy did the same, flexing her fingers.

"Okay, here we go. One, two, three, pull!"

They heaved at the handles at the same time, and with a loud click, the doors flung themselves open, and both Amy and William were thrown backwards into the snow.

Dazed and with great difficulty, Amy stood up on her wobbly legs. William was also starting to regain his balance, and once both he and Amy were upright once more, they tiptoed over to the open doors and peered downwards. Neither of them saw anything particularly interesting at all - there were no lights inside, and it was pitch black.

Amy whistled. "How far down do you think it goes?"

"Pretty far. I don't see anything."

"Do you have any rope?"

"No."

"Do you have _anything_ I could use to see how far of a drop this is? I want to go down and check it out, but I'd rather not kill myself, thanks."

"Not really. Sorry."

Amy sighed and sat down cross-legged in the snow, trying to think of what they could do. He didn't have a rope, she hadn't seen any ladders… oh! Of course!

She picked up a large handful of snow and packed it into a snowball in her hands. Hadn't the Doctor mentioned that earlier? _You could make brilliant snowmen with this. Snowballs, too._

Standing up, Amy held the tightly-packed snowball in her hand, and with all the strength she could muster, hurled it down into the black and waited, careful not to make a sound.

Hardly even a second had passed before she heard the snowball smack against the bottom of the hole. Not too far a drop, then. Perfect.

"I guess it's not very far down," William whispered, still peering down to see if he could spot even the tiniest pinprick of light.

"Yeah, I think I'll be alright."

"What?"

Amy sat down in the snow in front of the metal doors and looked back over at the boy.

"Miss Amy, I don't think that's a good idea."

"I'll be fine," Amy scoffed with a smile. "Want to come with me? We can explore."

William looked almost eager at first, but quickly bit his lip and shook his head, now looking hesitant instead. "I probably shouldn't. Mummy'll be _really_ angry with me. I'm not even supposed to be over here at all."

"Suit yourself. You should probably go back to the houses, so your mum doesn't find you where you shouldn't be."

Amy swung her legs over the snow and dangled them into the dark expanse below, preparing to drop herself down. She hoped the fall wasn't too far, but then again, she had absolutely no way of knowing until she tried it for herself. She wasn't sure that a snowball was a totally accurate method of measurement.

"What should I tell your friend when he comes back and finds out you're gone?"

Amy had to admit to herself that she hadn't really thought about that.

"Oh. Erm, stall him for as long as you can, but if he asks, tell him I've gone exploring, and show him this door if he wants to know exactly where I am. Look, just don't worry, I'll be fine. I'm always fine. See you in a bit, alright?"

William smiled weakly and nodded, trying to keep a brave face despite his obvious fear that something would happen to her. Amy returned his smile and breathed out deeply, preparing herself for what she was about to do.

"Alright, here goes nothing."

Closing her eyes and praying she hit the ground quickly, Amy pushed off from the doorframe and fell down into the darkness.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Blimey, it's been ages, hasn't it? Sorry about that! Writer's block really kicked in at the end of March and I lost all will to write this any longer, but now that I'm on summer holidays, I've had LOADS of ideas. Earlier this week I came up with more ideas, yesterday I finalised the plot, and here we are today! I hope you all enjoy it, because I'm certainly having fun writing again! And, once again, thank you to everyone that's reviewed - especially those of you that are anonymous, whom I can't reply to but am grateful for, all the same! x**


	20. Chapter 20

The horrible, sickening sensation of falling into the hole hardly even lasted a second, for which Amy was grateful. She was not grateful, however, for the fact that she landed rather hard on her ankles, then proceeded to trip backwards and land coughing in the dirt. Amy laid there on the ground for a moment, trying to catch her breath whilst ignoring the dull throb in her ankles. What if she'd broken them?

Still sore from the fall, Amy eased herself into a sitting position and rubbed cautiously at her ankles. She wasn't screaming with pain at her own touch, she realised, so perhaps things weren't as bleak as she'd thought they were. Broken ankles were probably the last thing she needed at the moment.

"Miss Amy? Are you okay?"

William was calling to her from far above her head. She squinted and looked upwards, only seeing a faint speck of light above her, along with what looked like the small head of the boy peering down at her. She wasn't even sure if he could see her at all, or was simply just yelling down into the pit and hoping she was conscious.

"I'm fine!" she called back, making her voice as steady as she was able to. Giving him any reason to fear would be sure to send him running for the Doctor. "Bit sore is all. And I can't really see, either."

"Do you want me to wait for you?"

Amy had to think about that. It would be comforting knowing that someone was watching out for her, but what good would that do? If she got into any sort of trouble, he couldn't help her. William going back to the houses and stalling the Doctor until she could find another way out was probably the best course of action.

"It's probably best if you go back!" Amy hollered. "Remember, tell the Doctor where I am only as a last resort. Trust me, just go back."

"Alright, if you say so."

With that, William disappeared from view, and the loneliness of her situation finally began to settle in to Amy. No Doctor. No William. It was just her, still stranded in the dark with somewhat injured ankles, with only her mobile phone to aid her. Upon that realisation, a sudden thought struck her: why not make use of her mobile?

She dug her hand deep into her pocket and brought out her mobile phone, which was thankfully unharmed after her fall. She supposed the padding of the parka was the reason for that. She was met with an almost blindingly bright glow as she turned it on, and turned it away to shine light on her surroundings. She saw, for the first time, not just the darkness, but a rather significant amount of destruction.

Around the (what she now saw was rounded) chamber laid large, sharp pieces of tarnished metal from some sort of structure that appeared to have once been rather tall. Stairs, by the look of it all. Perhaps there had once been a large metal staircase leading down from the hole into the chamber. For some reason, it had been torn down and blasted to the other side of the room, completely smashed to bits. Amy wondered if it was some sort of way to keep people out of whatever was here underground.

Or perhaps it was to keep people in.

Shining her mobile around, she dragged herself over to the nearest thing she could grab - a safety railing for the staircase - and hoisted herself up cautiously into a standing position, careful not to put too much weight on both of her ankles at once. Apart from a little soreness, Amy felt fine, and thus set to work on investigating what was underground. She tugged off her parka and ditched it by the ruined staircase, left her hat and gloves on, and headed for the doorway she was able to see on the other side of the room.

* * *

><p>Upon the Doctor and Andromeda's return to the occupied, standing houses, the Doctor set off at once to look for William. His first stop was a group of people chatting near the space he had first spoken to the boy. The group wasn't able to tell him much, and were only able to point him towards the house William had taken Amy to quite some time ago. He went to the house that they directed him to, and found that the front had been cleared of all the snow, meaning that they had certainly been here. The Doctor entered the cosy little house and found that all of the lights had been turned on, but that nobody was inside.<p>

But then again, he was after Amelia Pond and little William, and Amelia Pond was certainly not known to be one that stayed put. If he knew her, and he was positive that he did, she had probably convinced William to explore the area with her.

The Doctor left the house to find Andromeda outside waiting for him, looking anxious and concerned.

"Has he told you anything?"

"He's not here. Amy's gone too. Is there anywhere they could have gone?"

She shrugged and sighed heavily, as though this was by no means surprising to her either. "William's always running off when I'm not looking. He'll go anywhere, as long as it's interesting."

"I suppose we're all sitting ducks until he comes back, then."

"Sitting ducks? Do you think we're in danger?" Andromeda asked, now sounding alarmed.

"Oh, don't be alarmed, ducks are splendid. Love a duck. Anyway, we might be. Something drove those people away, and I think that something might just be underground. We don't know what it is or what it's capable of, so we're all just going to have to be careful until we can get William to give us some answers."

With perfect timing, the Doctor caught sight of William striding towards them from the opposite direction - without Amy. The Doctor hurried over to him, and he saw a flash of what looked like fear in the boy's eyes, before he had even spoken a word.

"William, your mum tells me that you hear sounds coming from under the ground, is that right? What sort of sounds do you hear?"

The boy hesitated slightly before he spoke. "Erm, rumbling, sort of. I don't know what it is. I think it's something big. Or a lot of things moving at the same time."

The Doctor nodded. "Anything else?"

"There's… there's also a door that leads underground."

This peaked Andromeda's interest. "Door? What sort of door? William, you've never told me anything about a door-"

The Doctor spoke up to cut her off. "Can you take me to it?"

* * *

><p>Amy had to admit that this entire place was incredibly strange. The only signs that life had ventured here at all was the destroyed staircase, the metal flooring that she was now stood on, and the door that had been buried in the snow above. They had all clearly been built for some sort of purpose. But just what was it?<p>

As she continued through the arched tunnel with her mobile phone lighting the way, Amy began to see a lit, warehouse-sized area ahead, and she moved quicker to see what lay ahead of her. Upon clearing the tunnel, Amy found herself standing on the uppermost step of another staircase - one yet to be destroyed, apparently - that led down into the large space below. Her stomach nearly plummeted at the sight of what was below.

Pocketing her mobile, Amy took off down the steps at a run, not caring about the amount of noise she was making. She was trespassing, she knew that, but she didn't care any longer. She needed to get a closer look, and she didn't think that anyone was going to come up and stop her.

Amy had imagined that the residents of Eira 12 would have been like the people she and the Doctor had met on the surface. She was expecting a booming population, people conversing and laughing, children running around, and the happy air that comes with a small, close-knit village. They would have lived in comfortable houses made the same way as the ones she had already seen on the planet above. What met her eyes instead was nothing of the sort.

The first thing she noticed was the silence. It struck fear deep into her heart - where was the laughter? Where was the happy chatter? All she could hear was the sound of her own boots on the metal floor and the violent thumping of her heart. She wouldn't have even been surprised if the people nearby - that is, if there were any - could hear it.

These homes were in complete disrepair. Walls were crumbling, some had caved in roofs. All of the hanging lights inside were either smashed or had dead bulbs. Though the homes were made of wood and the floor of metal, dirt from the walls of the giant chamber and underneath the metal flooring dusted the majority of the empty ones. It was like looking at someone's crude imitation of the settlement on the planet above.

What disturbed her the most was the fact that there were empty homes at all. These would have been planned out and built for a specific number of people. There should not be this many abandoned ones.

And then there were the people. Walking slowly through the rows, Amy passed by the majority of the empty houses and finally began to see some signs of life. Though, the more that she thought about it, the more that she realised that these poor people were hardly even alive at all.

These were not the jovial, well-off people Amy had been expecting. Many of them hurried to the wide, gaping holes in their homes meant to be windows and doors and looked out upon their new intruder, none of them saying a word. They were all haggard and sickly in appearance and looked at Amy with dead, empty eyes and without as much as one happy look on any of their faces. The massive amount of suffering that they had all gone through was evident, and Amy felt a lump form in her throat. For how long had they all waited here, praying that something - or someone - would come to save them? For how long had they prayed that they could be saved at all?

And how many, she wondered as she was greeted by more and more hollow expressions, had lost that faint hope long ago?

It was then that she began to see children, and dozens of them. They had been amongst the rest of the people, but were hiding themselves well. They stayed back in the shadows, clinging to the legs of their parents, looking at Amy with more despair on their faces than Amy had ever thought was possible for a child to express.

It was absolutely horrible, and Amy didn't think she was going to be able to bear it for much longer. As tears began to slip down her cheeks, she continued her slow walk through what was left of Eira 12.

* * *

><p>William led the Doctor and his mother back to the doors where he had last seen Amy. He had left them open, knowing that nobody else would venture to that general area, and that he wouldn't be able to open them again on his own if he'd had to.<p>

The Doctor let out a low whistle and peered down into the darkness, much like Amy had. Pulling his sonic screwdriver out of his jacket, he pointed it at the hole for several seconds, before pulling it back to his eyeline and nodding.

"Yep. The readings are higher here. The movement is definitely coming from underground."

As the Doctor had been scanning what lay below the doors, Andromeda had been peering over his shoulder, looking very curious. William had been strangely silent, and had been wondering why the Doctor hadn't asked where Amy was. The Doctor had certainly not forgotten her - he had a sneaking suspicion of where she was, but was waiting to see if William would reveal it before he had to ask.

"It'd be interesting to see what's down there. I might be able to get some answers. Do you think it's very far of a drop?"

William shrugged. "It's not that far."

The Doctor smirked ever so slightly at this. There was only one way that William could have known how far the drop was, and that was if he or somebody else had gone down to explore, and he certainly didn't think that William had gone down there.

"Rope would probably do the trick. I suppose I could just drop down, though," the Doctor muttered to himself.

"Yeah, when your fr-"

William's eyes widened and he clapped a small hand over his mouth, looking horrified. The Doctor, of course, did not miss this. Without even turning to look at the boy, the Doctor murmured:

"William, Amy's down there, isn't she?"

He bit his lip and his eyes darted from the Doctor's face to the doors, swaying slightly on the spot. The Doctor supposed that Amy had sworn the boy to secrecy, asking William not to tell him anything about her whereabouts. William didn't sound as though he was going to be speaking up about it any time soon, so the Doctor looked away from the doors and back towards William and Andromeda.

"Right, I'm getting my ship and I'm going down there. You lot," he said, motioning to William and Andromeda, "have to stay back at your house, alright? No wandering off. I'm always telling people that, but they never seem to listen to me. But I _need_ you to, do you understand? I don't want anyone else getting stuck down there."

They both nodded.

"You said 'friend'. I thought she was your wife?" Andromeda asked him, sounding suddenly wary.

The Doctor waved his hand to dismiss her question. Now was not the time to argue over something as trivial as the fact that he'd passed Amy off as his wife. "Friend, wife, whatever, is that really important? We didn't know what your customs were and lying was the safest bet. Sorry, but it was the only way."

Andromeda's eyes became slightly narrowed. "Is there anything else you're lying about, Doctor? How do we know that you're just visiting? You're asking a lot of questions for a visitor."

Sensing that the conversation was taking a turn for the worse, something he really didn't have time for, the Doctor quickly changed the subject. "That isn't important right now. If you don't mind, I'm going down there. Remember what I told you!"

Standing up again, the Doctor took off through the snow back to the TARDIS.

* * *

><p>Amy continued her tearful walk among the rows of houses, still trying to find answers to all of the questions she had. The destruction was almost the same all around, and it seemed to her that nobody was safe from it. Every single person was a shell of whom they had once been.<p>

The only difference in what she saw came when she was nearer to the back wall of the area, which she soon saw was not a back at all. The wall was made of the same metal that the staircases, floors and the doors up on the planet above had been made of. The only way she could tell that this wasn't a simple back wall was a large set of sliding doors set straight in the middle of it. There was no sort of control panel around it, no handle, and no conceivable way to open it. Even one swift kick did nothing to help her.

Closer to this strange wall were houses full of suffering people, just as there were all around the room, but these people seemed even more desolate. Amy also noticed that there were far less of them, as though something near the wall was picking them off one by one.

Much to her own annoyance, Amy had to admit that she had absolutely no idea what she was supposed to do next. She had no way of getting back up above, she had no way of helping these people, and she had no way of getting through the strange sliding doors. She was about to reach into her skirt pocket for her mobile to call the Doctor when she heard a voice behind her.

"Who are you?"

Amy turned away from the sliding doors to find a man standing behind her, looking at her with a curious expression on his face. Amy was almost shocked by how normal he looked in comparison to the other people living around him - this man was roughly the same age as her, she guessed, was of about the same height, and though he looked as sickly and tired as most of the people did, he seemed so much more alive. His eyes, by some miracle, still had life in them, as did his voice.

"Oh! Amy. I came here with my… erm, husband, on holiday. I sort of… fell in this metal hatch thing and came down here. What is this place?"

Amy was rather unnerved by the fact that this man didn't look away from her for a single second. She wasn't even sure that he was _blinking_.

"This is Eira 12," he told her, stretching out his arms. Amy felt her stomach flop when she saw how nearly skeletal the man was. "Quite the little paradise we've carved out for ourselves, isn't it?"

"It's…"

"Horrible, I know. You've come from far away, haven't you? I've never seen that sort of hair before."

Amy smiled. "Earth. Like I said, holiday with my husband. But this really isn't what we had in mind."

"Your husband is a lucky man," he said absent-mindedly. "I'm Gwynn, by the way."

"Nice to meet you. Erm, I don't want to be rude, but why does everyone around here look so…?"

"Dead?" Gwynn said bluntly, finishing Amy's sentence before she had the chance to. "Imprisonment and hours of manual labour will do that to you."

Amy swallowed, her voice now barely even a whisper. "What happened here?"

He closed his eyes and rubbed at his temples. Though she had imagined that the two of them were of roughly the same age, Gwynn suddenly looked so small and so much more frail than he had before.

"We decided to build underground. There was so much snow above, and we… we wanted a choice of warmth without having to leave our home. Teams of workers came down here for years and hollowed it out, and after a while, they told us that it was ready. They put in staircases and floors to cover the dirt and everything. There was enough for everyone. Everything was okay…."

"But it's not okay anymore," Amy finished.

"No. We had lived in peace, but then… they came. They call themselves Daleks."

Amy felt a chill run through her body. She knew that name. They were the ones that had invaded the Earth all those years ago, weren't they? Even now, the mere name itself struck fear in her. The power they had had over the Earth was fearsome, even though the planet had been defended. She couldn't even imagine what had happened to these people, who didn't seem to have any defences of their own.

"We had all come underground, and they trapped us in. There wasn't a way out. There still isn't. We have food supplies for emergencies, but we're… we're starting to run out. That's why we're walking skeletons, as you've already seen. They won't let us leave, even to get food. They know we'll try to get someone to help us. Besides, they destroyed the stairs that lead back to the surface. We're forced to stay here."

"But why?" Amy asked, shaking her head. "There's got to be a reason."

"I've heard that this is what they do," Gwynn said simply, his eyes still closed. "They believe themselves to be the master race, and so they come after everyone else that they know they can conquer. We were underground with no way of protecting ourselves, so it was the perfect conquest for them. We had no choice but to help them."

"Help them?"

"They said something about an invasion they had staged that went wrong. Nearly wiped them all out, I'd imagine, because there aren't a lot of them here. They have one ship left, but it's damaged, and they're forcing us to help them repair it. We've got to build them all sorts of weaponry, too, because they know the technology they need. It's this or 'immediate extermination', from what I've heard. There's no way out, Amy. There just isn't."

She shook her head. "No, there's got to be. There's got to be something we can do. Believe me."

Gwynn let out a harsh, disbelieving laugh. "Unless you've got some sort of magic, there isn't."

Something clicked in Amy's mind and she was immediately reminded of the Doctor. There had to be something he could do for these people.

"My fri- erm, husband can help us. He's not magic, but… he's as close as it gets, as far as I've seen. Just trust me, Gwynn, okay? I'll get him to come down here."

Gwynn looked at her, still disbelieving. It didn't really matter to Amy whether or not he thought she was telling the truth, she realised. As long as she could get the Doctor down here to help, everything would be fine.

"You are remarkable, Amy. You truly believe he can help, don't you? You have so much hope. That's been lost in me for a long time now."

"He's amazing, Gwynn, just wait. I've got hope in him for a reason. He's like a hero. He just comes in and saves the day, all the time. I've never met anyone like him."

"Did he save you?"

"Sort of. Not from anything like what he'll save you from, though. I was just kind of… bored," Amy told Gwynn with a smile. "And tired of everything. Now, speaking of saving, are they what's on the other side of that wall? The Daleks?"

He nodded. "Only they can open it. Like I said, they've got their own weird technology. Behind that wall is where they take people to help them build, I think. I've never been taken, myself. I'm very good at hiding," Gwynn told her, sounding rather proud of himself. "That's why I'm not half-dead."

"I'm going to find a way in, okay? I want to see if there's something I can do."

As she turned towards the sliding doors again, she felt Gwynn grab her hand, his grip on her extremely tight. She whirled around again to meet his gaze, and found that every bit of joy had been extinguished, leaving a deathly serious stare in her direction.

"Amy, be careful," he told her sternly.

"I'll be fine. I'm always fine."

At her words Gwynn sighed heavily, as though Amy wasn't understanding his point at all. "No, Amy, I'm serious. A lot of people go through those doors, and… not everyone comes back."

She gave a small nod. From what she remembered of the Daleks, they were by no means an enemy to take lightly. If she wasn't extremely careful, there was every possibility that she would have the blood of these people on her hands.

"Promise me."

"I promise."

Still holding her gaze, Gwynn released his grip on her hand and watched her go. Amy turned back for a brief second to look at him, but saw that he was already hurrying off, probably to avoid being seen by a Dalek at all costs.

Amy faced forwards again to try to find a way through the doors, and nearly felt her heart stop. The doors were already opening, and she hadn't touched them at all. Adrenalin coursing through her, she dived into the safety of the nearest house, crouching low on the floor in the shadows and staying as silent as she was able to.

The two Daleks moved past her, far into the complex arrangements of the houses. The sliding doors through which they had come remained open, though Amy didn't know for how much longer that would remain the case. Looking around to make sure that she wouldn't be spotted, Amy jumped up, hurried out of the house and barrelled through the doors, immediately ducking behind nearby metal crates on the other side.

Hands shaking, she moved her hand to the pocket of her skirt to find her mobile phone.

* * *

><p>The Doctor was running as fast as he could back to the TARDIS, though the fact that he was running through snow at full speed in boots with minimal tread was impeding his speed. He stumbled several times, nearly falling face-first, but the need to find Amy kept him concentrated on running.<p>

He received another distraction when his mobile started ringing in his jacket pocket. Though nearly breathless, answered his phone anyway just as he arrived at the TARDIS doors.

"Hello?"

"Doctor? Is that you?" came a small, whispering voice.

"Amy? Where are you?" he asked, rushing up to the console.

"I'm underground. Didn't William tell you?" Amy asked.

The Doctor held his mobile phone between his ear and his shoulder as he began to program the controls. "I mostly worked it out on my own. He's rather tight-lipped, Pond, you've got yourself quite the little secret-keeper. Now, enough of that. Where exactly are you underground?"

"There's a big area full of houses, and a big dividing wall. I'm on the other side of that wall."

"Of course you are," the Doctor said with a sigh. "Listen, Amy, have you seen anything that might be making some sort of rumbling noise? William was telling me he's been hearing things going on underground."

"I haven't looked around on this half yet, but I've heard that there's a whole bunch of construction projects going on, so that's got to be it. It's the Daleks, Doctor. They're the ones that invaded Earth a few years back, yeah?"

The Doctor went completely still, and very nearly forgot that he was having a conversation at all.

"Hello? Are you still there?" Amy muttered, sounding slightly more frantic than before.

The Doctor found his voice once more and spoke sternly, trying his best not to let on about the large amount of fear that that name had instilled in him. "I'm coming. Stay where you are."

He almost laughed at his own words. Somehow, he knew almost immediately that saying that was all in vain.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Hello again! This chapter is a bit longer than the last one, but the Doctor's parts are still shorter than Amy's - that'll change very soon, though. He has a lot to do as of the next chapter. Anyway, thank you to everyone that's stuck with this fic over the months I was away, thank you to everyone that's just started reading, and thank you to everyone that's reviewed! x**


	21. Chapter 21

Upon realising the gravity of the situation he had placed Amy and himself in, the Doctor was careful to not leave the breaks on the TARDIS as he attempted to land it on the other side of the giant dividing wall. After quickly making sure he had set up the cloaking device on the ship properly, the Doctor checked the screens at the console to see where he had landed before he stuck his head out of the front doors. He thanked his lucky stars that the TARDIS usually had the sense to park somewhere where it would not be easily detected - he found that she had landed behind high stacks of crates in a shadowy corner of the chamber. Before the Doctor could turn the screens off and tiptoe out to investigate, however, there was a sharp, urgent rap at the door.

"Open up!" a familiar voice hissed.

The Doctor hurried down the glass steps and wrenched the doors open to find Amy standing there, a wide smile on her lips.

"Took you long enough."

"Pond! You actually waited! Oh, you _are_ a sight for sore eyes!" the Doctor exclaimed, wrapping his arms around her in a tight hug. "Your wandering off will be the death of me."

She patted him on the back and laughed quietly. "You do the same thing, you bloody hypocrite."

With this, the Doctor released her and clapped his hands together. "Right, enough with the joyful reunion. We've got a big problem on our hands. If this really is the Daleks we're dealing with, Amy, then we have to be serious about this."

"It's definitely them, I remember seeing them before. Look like rolling rubbish bins with these sort of sphere things on 'em, yeah?"

"That'd be them. Oh, this is bad, Amy, and I should never have brought you here."

Amy felt somewhat unnerved by his words. There were occasionally times where the Doctor apologised for bringing her somewhere and putting her in a huge amount of danger, but this felt different. The Doctor seemed in no way playful now that he knew what they were up against, and stared at her with gravely serious eyes.

"But you've got a plan, haven't you? You know what we've got to do?"

The Doctor broke eye contact with her and crouched down, peeking through the thin spaces in the stacks of crates to see what was going on. What really worried Amy was how long it was taking him to answer her.

"I'm forming one, but it's difficult to do when we don't know everything about _their_ plan yet," he murmured. "What've you found out?"

Amy sighed. "Gwynn told me-"

"Who's Gwynn?" he cut in.

"A bloke I met down here. Anyway, he's told me that they all came down here to build a new settlement, so that they wouldn't have to go travelling to get warm. But then the Daleks came, and they've taken over. There's hardly any food left, there's no way out, and the Daleks are forcing them to build new ships and weapons, and things like that. They don't have a choice, Doctor. It's this or they're all killed."

The Doctor narrowed his eyes. "That sounds just like the Daleks. Kill everyone else to get what they want. And in the end, even that means death. I suppose a ship or two must have survived that invasion of Earth from a few years ago. I don't think there'll be a lot of them, but even one is surprisingly powerful, Amy, remember that."

Amy crossed her arms and glared at him. "Right, I know why you're saying that. You're going to run off to have a chat with them or something, and you'll want me to stay in the TARDIS like a good little girl."

"Glad we're clear."

"Only I'm not going to do that."

He sighed heavily and peered up at her through his fringe. "Somehow I knew you were going to say that. I suppose locking you in the TARDIS wouldn't do any good, would it? If for some reason they find the TARDIS, it makes everything worse for you. No, you're right, but it's stupid and it's completely dangerous. I don't like it."

"Oh, come on, Doctor! You can go off and have a nice Time Lord-y chat with the Daleks, yeah? I'll stay here, keep low and talk to the people on this side. Maybe I can see what sort of stuff they're building. I'm not the damsel in distress, Doctor. I'm not fragile, and I can handle myself. I'm helping you, whether you think it's a good idea or not."

As much as the Doctor wanted to glare at her, it was all he could do not to grin broadly after Amy spoke. He smirked slightly at her and stood up again, brushing at the knees of his trousers.

"You are infuriatingly stubborn. Be careful, alright? If you get into trouble, do everything you can to hide or get back to the TARDIS. I'll get us out of here as soon as I can."

She nodded towards the space in the crates that led to the rest of the chamber. "Go get 'em."

With one last grim half-smile at her, the Doctor took off, keeping out of sight as best he could as he dodged around box after box. Deciding that it was best to sit tight for a while for the Doctor to get to where he needed to be before sneaking around to explore, Amy sat down on a crate and waited. Seconds passed slowly, and each minute that went by felt like an hour. This was, undoubtedly, the most serious predicament she'd gotten herself into yet. And she'd nearly died on several other occasions.

Amy had always been aware that there was danger out there in the universe. The Doctor had made that very clear to her shortly after they'd first met, when she'd learnt the truth about Mr. O'Brien. She didn't think she'd properly grasped just how dangerous things could get for her, she realised. She hadn't expected half of the things she'd seen and had to endure. Being locked in a pitch black basement with a murderous statue, simply waiting for the cold touch of stone? Hadn't even crossed her mind. Being witness to the imprisonment and unbearable conditions of hundreds of people at the hands of the Daleks? Wouldn't even have dreamt it. And yet, here she was.

No matter how hard she tried, she could not shake the images in her mind of the people she'd seen on the other side of the dividing wall. So many men, women and children, simply living there as slaves and waiting for the day that they left and never came back again. But wasn't her position similar? She'd run off with the Doctor and had hardly even explained a thing to anyone. Her parents didn't even know she was gone. What if she, like some of these people, simply disappeared and never came back? What if they would never know what had happened to her?

But it wasn't like the Doctor put her in extreme danger on purpose. He'd never do something that rash. No, he would certainly do everything he could to make sure she was safe, and that they always got out of trouble alive. Hadn't he always done? Even when he had no plan, that bowtie-wearing idiot always managed to slip out of a problem. Even still, she couldn't get rid of that nagging little idea in the back of her mind that told her that one day, their luck could run out.

Sighing, she stood up and peered around the crates, waiting for her chance to sneak away.

* * *

><p>As he had hoped, the ramp that led to a second level was exactly where he needed to go. The area above yielded a large pile of crates - probably full of more tools and Dalek technology - by the back wall, and a large archway with a sliding glass door that looked as though it led to a control room. Knowing that probably a Dalek or two would be stationed in there at all times, he made his way towards it, stepping lightly as the doors slid open to admit him.<p>

"_System scan reveals all systems are in working order!"_ one Dalek screeched, waving its gunstick about as it spoke. _"Everything is according to plan!"_

"_All workers are on schedule!"_ the second Dalek in the room responded. _"A new wave shall enter in 20,000 rels!"_

"Nah, I don't think it will."

Both Daleks in the control room spun around to face the Doctor, the lights on the top of their casings flashing quickly as they began to speak over one another. They both waved their eyestalks and gunsticks threateningly towards him.

"_An intruder is detected!"_

"_He is not recognised as a worker! He is not of this planet!"_

"_State your identity-"_

"_Or you will be exterminated!"_

The Doctor rolled his eyes and sighed. "You know perfectly well who I am. Different face, same man. Take a minute, take a good long look. You know exactly what my name is, don't you? We've met before, more than once. Come on."

A tense moment passed as the Doctor stood still, continuing to glare at the Daleks, as they began to, he assumed, scan him to detect his identity.

"_Only one speaks with such arrogance-"_

"_It is the Doctor!"_

"_The Doctor! He shall be exterminated!"_

"Hold on, will you? I'd like to talk to you. Don't try anything funny, because I'm not here alone. Done yelling? Alright, now, what the hell are you doing here?"

"_We are rebuilding the empire of the Daleks!"_ one screamed. _"A ship fell through time and space and avoided death at the hands of your copy, Doctor! There are eight of our race remaining, and with this planet and its inhabitants, we shall rebuild!"_

"Yes, I get that, but how? How did you know to come here?"

"_We fell to this world by chance! This planet was defenceless and inhabited by fools, ready to do our bidding! We detected a population under the surface of the planet and went underground! It was not known by others that they were there and nobody came to rescue them!"_

"_They had made it hollow, and could not stop us from entering their land! And here, they will aid us in the reconstruction of the Dalek empire!"_

"_All hail the Daleks!"_

"_All hail the Daleks!"_

"Oh, I get it. Get this planet, and then you've got plenty of room to space yourselves out and take the other planets nearby. How clever of you," the Doctor snarled. "And let me guess: to make sure you had the best of the best, you cleansed through the population, didn't you?"

Seemingly unaware of the rage brewing underneath the Doctor's somewhat cool exterior, the Daleks continued telling the story of their conquest of the planet.

"_Their deaths made way for strong workers!"_

"_The weak are exterminated! Young and females will be taken next-"_

Trying his best to keep it under wraps for the time being, the Doctor was nearly shaking with rage. "Don't you dare! Don't even think I'm going to let you lay a damn finger on any of them. Not while I'm here. You're not using anyone else ever again, do you understand? Get it through your thick heads!"

"_From our destroyed technology, they will build us new ships. They will build us new weapons. We will rise with our new machines and we will not be stopped! Once we have rebuilt, we will find the remaining progenitor device and the empire will begin again!"_

"What?"

"_We have detected the existence of one remaining progenitor device lost in the universe! We will locate it and the Dalek race will be whole and pure once more!"_

"_The plan is set in motion! You will not interfere!"_

"Watch me. Because if you think you can just stroll into whichever planet you like, wipe everyone out and fly away again and rebuild with nothing and nobody holding you back," the Doctor said quietly, inching closer and closer to the second Dalek's eyestalk, "then you're wrong. Because guess who?"

"_You will not stop us, Doctor!"_

The Doctor whirled around to find that five more Daleks had entered the control room as he had been speaking, and all were now crowding around him, their gunsticks aimed at his chest in threat.

"_You will not stop us!"_

* * *

><p>Amy waited until all of the Daleks that she was able to see had made their way up a ramp to a second level which, she assumed, was where the rest of the Daleks might be waiting. Once they had left, Amy slid out of her hiding place behind the crates and dodged around, tiptoeing around to avoid being seen. As far as she could tell, there were only humans left on this floor - no Daleks at all.<p>

The place she headed first was an area full of what appeared to be worktables, around which several people were congregated and working. As she approached, she hissed, "Hey!" to which very few people responded. Some of the workers looked over at her with those same sad, empty eyes, but not one said a word back until she urged them on with a further greeting.

"I'm Amy. I'm here to help you."

"You can't help us," one young girl whispered back to her, not even bothering to look up from the piece of machinery she was wiring. Her speech was almost robotic in tone. "Nobody can."

"I can. Believe me. I can get you all out of here. How do you think I got in? Listen, tell me what you've all been doing."

There was silence again for a brief moment before a man near the end of one of the farthest tables piped up.

"Building everything for them, ma'am. Ships, guns, everything."

Amy looked around the room and over both shoulders for any incoming Daleks before continuing on with the conversation. "But why? And why was a whole side of this big… thing empty?"

"They said they need to rebuild their empire, ma'am. We had a whole side empty, ready for more construction if we needed it. But then they came."

"They took over," another woman added. "Nobody knows we're all down here. Nobody has come to save us. We build every day and every night. They kill the weak ones and the sick ones. There is no way to get out."

"Not until now," Amy told her with a grin. "Listen, you all hold tight for a little while longer, alright? The Doctor and I are going to get you out of here. I just need to figure out where he went first. I promise, just wait and pretend nothing's going on if the Daleks come back, alright?"

Those of the group that were listening to Amy nodded as vigorously as they could in their weakened states, and returned their full attention back to their work. As they kept busy, Amy continued to look around, feeling even worse for them than she already had. The Daleks really were mass-murdering people. She could understand now why everyone felt as though there was no hope left for them. Had the Doctor not landed on Eira 12, there wouldn't have been.

There were stacks of under-construction computer panels and circuits piled around the work tables and the back walls and, most magnificent of all, a large saucer near the back of the room. But that was strange. There was space around the chamber for multiple ships, so clearly they had plans to build many of them. The saucer that Amy could see was the only one in the whole chamber, meaning that they hadn't built any others yet. If they were rebuilding from their damaged technology, shouldn't there be a damaged ship here as well? Or, perhaps they had destroyed the old ship already to make room. Yes, that had to be it.

The outer metal shell looked so smooth and so new. Amy reached out her hand to touch it, to simply feel the smoothness of the material. Her fingers mere inches away from the ship, and she could almost feel the cool metal under her hand…

Just then, a terrible scratchy voice began emanating from somewhere behind her, screaming for everyone in the area to hear. A voice that very nearly made her blood run cold with fear.

A voice that could only belong to a Dalek.

"_An unregistered human is detected! Identify yourself!"_

Amy whirled around to find herself face-to-face with a Dalek, its eyestalk boring into her eyes and its weapons pointed straight at her chest. She began to rack her brain for a name to use, deciding almost immediately that stating her real name was not a good idea.

"Oh! I'm, erm… Gemma," she blurted out, settling with the first name that crossed her mind. "Gemma… Smith."

"_That name is not listed in our databases!"_ came the screeching reply. _"You are an intruder, and you will be exterminated! Exterminate!"_

Thinking fast, Amy ducked down just as a bright blue jet of light came soaring towards her. It sailed right towards where her heart had been a split second before and struck the side of the Dalek saucer. Amy did not stick around to witness the damage the shot had done, or if there had been any at all. As soon as the blast struck the metal, she ran behind the Dalek, straight towards the metal ramp that she supposed the Doctor must have run up.

The screams of the Dalek filled the air once again, declaring that all exits be secured and all security protocols be enforced. If none of the other Daleks had been aware that the Doctor and Amy were here before, they certainly did now.

Amy knew nothing of the floor plan on the second level, so as far as she knew, she could have been running straight into a large group of Daleks. Luckily for her, however, she did not - she ran into a chamber about a quarter of the size of the one she had just come from, only this chamber had considerably more crates and much less floor space. To her left was a large glass door that led to what appeared to be a control room. She was hardly even surprised to see the Doctor in the room, surrounded by a large number of Daleks. He appeared to be yelling at them for several seconds, before the lights of the tops of multiple Daleks began to flash, their eyestalks and gunsticks began to wave violently about and the Doctor appeared to go silent. Thinking it was best to keep out of sight, Amy hurried to the other side of the chamber as quickly as she could to avoid being seen, and kept watch from there.

Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed another glass door to her right. Turning her head to get a full glimpse of it, Amy noticed that this hidden room didn't have any Daleks in it. It was small, nondescript and thoroughly uninteresting - apart from what sat upon a pedestal in the middle of the room.

Momentarily forgetting the Doctor's small meeting with the Daleks in the control room, Amy tiptoed her way to the small room next to her, wondering what was so secret that it needed to be hidden away.

* * *

><p>Unaware of the chaos that had erupted in the chamber below them, the seven other Daleks still huddled around the Doctor in the control room, each convinced that they finally had him.<p>

"Oh, would you just give it up already?" the Doctor hollered at them, turning his head to look at each of them in turn. "Every single time I come across you, I tell you exactly what I'm going to do and you never listen. I don't lose and I _won't_ lose."

"_You are the same arrogant man as before. But you are not armed! You have no defences!_

"Oh? You think I'm not armed?"

The circle of Daleks seemed to slightly loosen as each moved backwards by an inch or two, away from him. Though they believed to have him beaten, none of them were too willing to believe he wasn't dangerous.

Pulling a round object from his pocket, he held it out in front of him and waved it in front of several Dalek eyestalks, glaring menacingly at each of them. "TARDIS self destruct button. I've got my ship down here with me. Come anywhere near me again and I'll set it off."

"_You will not risk the deaths of others!"_

"What makes you think I haven't got this further away from them? Near here, for instance? Near you lot?"

"_You will not sacrifice yourself!"_

"Collateral damage. Anything to clear the bloody Daleks out of the sky once and for all."

The Daleks went silent again at this, and appeared to believe him, for which he was thankful. It was not, of course, a TARDIS self-destruct button, but he was running out of ideas and, as usual, did not have a great plan ready. If he could at least stall them until he thought of something, perhaps things would get a little bit easier.

Breaking the strained silence in the room, the Doctor's mobile phone in his jacket pocket began to ring. This, combined with the fact he still had seven guns aimed at his chest, was just another unwelcome distraction to his rapidly moving brain.

"_What is that noise? Explain!"_

"It's a telephone. Are you stu-"

"_Scan reveals nothing!"_

"What?"

"_TARDIS self-destruct device non-existent!"_

"_An intruder has been detected in the lower level! An intruder has been detected in the lower level!" another Dalek yelled over the other. "Explain!"_

"Can you all be quiet? I'd like to answer my phone," he told them sharply. Then, after a brief pause and a quick thought, he added, "Wait, what was that about an intruder?"

None of the Daleks bothered to answer his question, but before he could ask it again, several of the Daleks left the control room to investigate. As much as he wanted to put the alert off as being caused by one of the workers, he knew deep in his heart that the reason for the commotion was more likely because of Amy.

"Don't you do anything to her. Leave her alone."

"_Who is this intruder?"_

"A friend. If you think I'm unpleasant now, just wait and see what will happen if you so much as touch her."

Once he had finished speaking, the Dalek went quiet. Had it not been for the momentary silence, the Doctor thought that he probably would not have noticed that his phone was still ringing.

"Hello?"

"God, how long does it take you to answer your phone?"

The Doctor breathed out a long, happy sigh of relief. "Amy! Oh, I'm a bit tied up at the moment. Not literally. Are you alright?"

"_Cease your communication immediately!"_

"What was that?"

"A rolling rubbish bin with spheres on it," the Doctor told her, reminding her of her initial description of them. He heard her laugh on the other end of the line before she rapidly changed the subject.

"I've found something really strange," Amy told him, lowering her voice considerably, "I don't know what it is, but I think it's really important."

"_Cease your communication! Obey! Obey!"_

"Excuse me, I'm talking! Now, Amy, try to hurry because I have a feeling that I'm not going to be able to talk for very long."

"Okay, well, it's this sort of… orb thing, and it kind of looks like the ones on the Daleks, but it's in a really thick glass case. It's hidden away in this tiny room next to the crates. I think it's really important, but I'm not touching it. I don't want it blowing up in my face."

"_Cease your communication immediately, or you will be-"_

"Yes, yes, exterminated, now hush! Amy, send me a photo of it. If they're hiding it away from the workers and keeping it locked up, then it _is_ important. I think I know what it might be. Take a photo of it and send it to me."

Without a goodbye, the Doctor hung up, stashed his mobile back in his jacket pocket, and turned to face the Daleks once again. "Alright, I've finished. Want to interrupt me some more?"

"_Explain your communication immediately! Explain!"_ a different Dalek screamed. The Doctor had to admit, he was secretly enjoying how much a simple phone call was terrifying them.

"That there," he told them with a grin on his face, "was my friend Amy, and you know what she's found? Your secret weapon. That's right, you've got a secret weapon, haven't you? Now, I don't know what it is yet, but I'm going to find out and I'm going to make sure you can't get your filthy little suction cups on it to use it. And doesn't that scare the hell out of you?"

"_You will not leave this room! You will not leave this room!"_

"Oh yes, I will. And by the way, the self-destruct _was_ fake - it was a Jammie Dodger. See you!"

The Doctor bolted out of the room as blue blasts of light shot out around him. Laughing as he went, he hurried off with an idea already beginning to form in his mind.

* * *

><p>As soon as the Doctor abruptly ended their conversation, Amy turned her phone to the glass case, snapped a photo of the orb, and sent it off to the Doctor. As she waited for his response, she continued to examine the orb from a distance, careful not to set off any hidden traps or make any noise. The orb was perfectly round, and as far as she could see, there was not a single marking on it at all. Nor, however, were there any markings on the glass case, or the shining silver pedestal that the orb rested on - apart from one small orb-like button. How was the Doctor going to be able to identify it from just a photograph? But then again, she supposed he had a far greater knowledge of the universe than she did.<p>

The Doctor apparently recognised it almost immediately, as It hardly even took a minute for Amy's phone to ring again.

"Pond, we've got a problem," he told her as soon as she put the phone to her ear.

"How bad is it?"

"That's an oblivion continuum bomb, Amy. Oh, I've never seen one of these before! I've only ever heard about them."

"Doctor!"

"Right, right. If I'm right, this is very, very bad. That thing could blow up this planet and loads of others nearby. It could even cause them to bleed out into another dimension. Oh, this is extremely very not good."

Upon learning how severely important this piece of technology was, Amy took several steps away from the pedestal. "Why do the Daleks have it?"

She heard the Doctor snort loudly from the other end of the line. "Why not? It can take out worlds, you can use it as a threat or a bargaining chip, it can power warheads… just about everything they'd want to do. It's the ultimate weapon and it is in the worst possible hands. Or manipulator arms, rather."

"Then what do we do with it?"

"I'll figure something out. Take it and bring it to me. At the very least, we can stop them from being able to use it."

"Got it," she told him. She pocketed her phone once again and with trembling fingers, reached out slowly for the glass surrounding the powerful little orb. As far as she could tell, there was no latch or way of opening it on the glass itself, so the little half-orb button on the pedestal must be the way of opening it. However, a simple touch did nothing, nor did pressing her whole hand against it. Time for more drastic measures.

Amy raised her leg up and with one strong kick, a crack formed in the glass. Another kick and the glass shattered, leaving the metal orb unprotected, and also causing a shrill alarm system to kick in. Realising she didn't have much time before she was found again, Amy grabbed the bomb and ran for it.

She snuck out of the small room that had contained the bomb and was momentarily thankful that the alarms masked the sound of her footsteps, which would have surely been an open invitation for the Daleks to find her. Unfortunately, she realised all too soon, the sound of the alarms also masked the sounds of anything that was nearby and already searching for her. With her ears ringing, Amy didn't even hear the Daleks approach.

One of them turned around the corner of crates just as she did, and she screamed as she nearly collided with it. She saw the lights on the top of the Dalek flash and knew what it was screaming before the blast even came. Still clutching the bomb tightly, Amy threw herself aside as the blast hit several crates and sent them tumbling downwards - and onto the rest of the Daleks that had been waiting on the other side of the crates. She took advantage of the momentary distraction and climbed over the piles of rapidly collapsing boxes and screaming machines, scrambling towards the ramp that led to the chamber below. Loud robotic yells from behind Amy told her that the Daleks were regaining their senses, and she hurried past the control room and away from the wreckage before they could fire at her again.

Surprised that she didn't trip over her own feet in her haste, Amy made it down to the main chamber again to find the workers looking around in confusion, apparently unclear as to what their orders were when the alarms were set off. For the time being, there was not a Dalek in sight. There was, however, a certain Time Lord running towards her.

"Doctor!" Amy cried out, waving her hand as she ran over to him, "Where've you been?"

"In the TARDIS. There was something I had to… finish setting up. Is that the bomb?"

Amy nodded, and with bated breath, placed the silver sphere in the Doctor's hands. Even with the alarms still blaring around them, she could hear her heart beating in her chest.

"Oh, brilliant. Listen, get, everyone into the TARDIS, alright? You've got a head start, and you're not going to have a whole lot of time after I start the clock on this thing," he told her quickly, rapping on the surface of the sphere with his knuckles.

It took Amy a brief moment to understand the true meaning of his words. Unless she was very much mistaken, the Doctor intended to distract the Daleks long enough that Amy could help everyone to escape, and would then detonate the bomb, killing himself and taking the Daleks with him. What else could he mean? He did not even slightly sound as though he meant to save himself.

"W-what? No. Absolutely not."

He froze. "Sorry?"

"I'm not letting you do that. You're not killing yourself to save everyone. What about the people above? You said that this thing can take out this planet and loads of others nearby. You're getting me and everyone else out, but what about the people up there? What about William and Andromeda? I'm not doing it. I'm not leaving anyone."

Amy felt her eyes widen in shock as the Doctor's jaw clenched and he began to yell, his voice sharp and angry. "Amelia, you don't have a choice in this! I'm not going to be the one to lead you by the hand to your death if there's a way out for you. Get everyone into the TARDIS, and wait there. If I can find a way out, I'll come to you and we'll get out of here, and if I can't, I've set up the TARDIS to go to two pre-programmed coordinates, the surface and home."

"Doctor-"

"Listen! You can live your life normally, and everyone else can either find the quickest way to another planet, or settle on Earth, that isn't the issue right now. Do you understand? I'm not arguing with you, Amelia, you need to do this and you need to do it fast, do you understand me?"

With every cell in her body, Amy wanted to protest, to yell at him for talking to her that way, to demand that he think of something else. But he was, unfortunately, completely right - she didn't have a choice. She would have to either leave him behind and go home, or stay with him and die, along with hundreds of innocent people. It was a horrible, sickening decision, but one she had to make.

Almost as though someone had flipped a switch, the Doctor's emotions changed completely. His face and voice softened again, and he raised his free hand to brush across Amy's cheek. "There's nothing else I can do. Believe me, if there was another way, I wouldn't be asking you to do this for me. Please, just trust me. You have a family to go back to. I don't have anyone left. You won't need me anymore."

"Doctor, don't say th-"

"I'm sorry. I wasn't even going to tell you, did you know that?" He said, laughing at his own words before he closed his eyes. "I was just going to tell you to get everyone in the TARDIS and wait for me. I knew you'd put up a fight. But I promised you, Amy. I promised I'd tell you the truth."

The Doctor slid his hand to the back of Amy's neck and edged towards her. Moving gently and slowly, he pressed his lips to her forehead and whispered, "I'm sorry," against her skin one last time before breaking away. Amy could not hear the Doctor's movements clearly, and by the time she had opened her eyes, he was already more than halfway up the ramp, leaving her alone in the room with sirens still blazing around her.

He'd done it. He'd done exactly what she had been dreading. The day had finally come when all of their luck had run out. She was going home alone and he was going willingly towards his own death. There had to be a way to stop it. There just had to be.

She felt a lump begin to form in her throat and as her eyes begin to burn, she rubbed fiercely at them. She was not going to cry, and now was not even close to being the time to get emotional. If this really was the plan the Doctor had chosen to follow, she was not going to let him sacrifice himself for nothing.

Amy Pond had a job to do.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Sorry this took so long! I've been extremely busy lately. Luckily, I've had the majority of this written up since the last upload, so tonight I touched it all up. With new story ideas floating around in my head and lots of work around the house, I haven't had a whole lot of time lately to write. I think that'll all change as of the next few days, thankfully!**

**Oh, and I know I say all of this a lot, but thank you all for the reviews! This story has finally passed 100, and I'm grateful to each and every one of them. An extra special thank you to those of you that are anon reviewers or have private messages disabled, because I can't reply to you. :) x**


	22. Chapter 22

Amy fought her tears and won, and did not cry as she mulled over what the Doctor was about to do. After all of the things they'd done together, all of the places they'd seen… he was about to die, and she had to let it happen. She exhaled heavily and put her hands in her pockets, taking a brief moment to think about what to do. Her fingers graced over something warm and metallic in her pocket, and she extracted it to see what it was.

A key on a string. The Doctor had slipped a TARDIS key into her pocket.

For some strange reason, this made her want to cry all over again, but she continued to hold back. There were other things to think about.

Her objective sounded simple enough: while the Doctor was with the Daleks on the upper level, she was to get everyone else into the TARDIS, and wait. What she had not anticipated, however, was that the weakness of the majority of the population of Eira 12 would seriously inhibit their speed in making this work. She thought of this almost immediately after she and the Doctor had parted, and was sincerely regretting not asking him how to get it done fast.

Another problem, of course, was finding a way to get the sliding doors open. Amy remembered that she had not seen any sort of control panel on them, so there had to be a different way of getting them open. Perhaps they could simply sense that the Dalek was there.

If she could somehow lure a Dalek back down the ramp and towards the doors, she could test that theory. However, she was going to need a bit of help first. Once the Doctor had disappeared from her view, Amy hurried over to the worktables, where the people working there continued to look confused at the sound of the alarms.

"I need your help!" Amy called out, trying to get everyone's attention at once. "I need to get these doors open! Now, I know you all understand the Daleks' technology, so I need you to brainstorm. Is there any way to kill a Dalek but keep it intact?"

"One of their gunsticks could do it," a small boy piped up, "but I don't think you're going to be able to get a Dalek to kill another Dalek."

Amy, desperate for something to use, continued looking around the room. When her eyes settled on the giant Dalek saucer, a gleam of excitement came into her eyes.

"Then we'll have to improvise. What about a really _big_ gun?"

The workers turned to look in the same direction as Amy, and several even laughed. The idea was completely mad, but probably just mad enough to work. All of them wondered how she was going to lure a Dalek down the ramp without being killed, but Amy answered this question before any of them could ask it.

"I'm going to attract their attention to bring one of them down here. Can any of you lot work that ship thing? I'm going to get a Dalek to go over to the doors, and I want you to kill it, but leave as much of it intact as you can, alright? I think that door only opens if it senses a Dalek."

"I can!" a frail-looking woman said excitedly. "I think I can work it!"

"Can you show me?"

The woman nodded, scarpered over to the Dalek saucer, and climbed into the nearest doorway. Amy waited in silence for several minutes, before a large blast of blue light came shooting out of the ship and struck the doors. She grinned at the sight of it. Perhaps this _was_ mad enough to work.

Once the woman that had fired the gun had made her way out of the ship, Amy grinned at her and gave her a thumbs up.

"Brilliant. Now, can you do it again? I'm gonna get a Dalek down here, and when I yell 'fire', I want you to shoot, alright?"

"Sure thing," the woman said with a prompt nod.

Amy turned to run off, but caught herself and faced the woman again. "Oh, wait! I haven't asked - what's your name?"

"Primrose, ma'am."

"Good to meet you, Primrose. I'm Amy Pond. Now, let's kill a Dalek."

She moved away from the woman to face the rest of the group of workers, and began to speak loudly to them. She fancied that she sounded rather like she was arranging some sort of army. She had to admit it - she rather liked it.

"Alright, listen! Here's how we're getting out. I'm going to knock down those crates over there," Amy told them, pointing in the direction of the TARDIS, "and hopefully that'll lure a Dalek down who wants to check out what's going on. I'm gonna bring it over to the doors, and Primrose is gonna kill it. Then, we put it in front of the doors, wait for them to sense that a Dalek is there, and they'll open. Now, here's the hard part. We need to prop crates against the doors so that they don't close, alright? Get every single person on the other side of the wall to come in here, and head to the blue box behind all of those crates. Now, I know it sounds mad, but believe me, the blue box is the way out. We're going to have to do this _really_ fast, alright? You all ready?"

She received many nods of agreement and heard excited chatter amongst some of the younger workers. The older ones, she noticed, were still wary. She didn't expect she'd have much hope of an escape either, after being trapped underground and enslaved for years. Perhaps this would change their minds.

Amy went over to where the TARDIS was sat and began to set the plan in motion. "Time to make some noise," she murmured to herself.

With all the strength she was able to muster, Amy shoved hard against the nearest stack of crates, and was satisfied upon hearing a good number of them crash loudly to the floor. She continued on her path of destruction, toppling over as many things as she could and making as much noise as possible. This was _definitely_ going to be heard over the alarms.

And it was! She peeked around the crates several times, and finally saw a Dalek beginning to come down the ramp to the lower levels. She gave a thumbs up and a large grin to the workers, all of whom were still huddled around the tables to wait for the right moment. The Dalek came down into the large chamber, and apparently not seeing Amy, turned to the workers and screamed, _"Explain! Explain!"_

"Oi, you stupid metal git, over here!"

The Dalek whirled around and pointed its eyestalk in Amy's direction. She waggled her fingers and gave a mischievous grin before running towards the doors. The Dalek followed with shocking speed.

"_You are not a worker! You are unauthorised! You will be exterminated!"_

"Ha! Result!" Amy cried out happily.

She began to back against the large sliding doors, her heart pounding as she hoped that this worked. Otherwise, they were all _really_ going to have some problems.

"Get ready!" Amy hollered as loudly as she could as she backed against the doors. "Get ready to fire!"

"_Exterminate! Exterminate!"_

Her back was flush against the metal now, and the Dalek was hardly even five feet away, closing in with whilst waving its gunstick in threat.

"Fire!"

The Dalek and Primrose both fired at the same time. Amy ducked down to avoid both blasts as best as she could, and felt bits of metal casing hit her back as she faced towards the wall. The Dalek's gun had struck the wall, whilst the far larger gun on the Dalek saucer had struck the Dalek, just as they had intended it to. She peeked over her shoulder to find the smoking bottom half of a Dalek, as well as an ecstatic group of weary workers hurrying towards her.

Several of them helped Amy to her feet and helped to brush the bits of the dead Dalek off of her, and some began to position themselves behind the remainder of the Dalek casing. This entire endeavour had taken - and was still taking - a large amount of effort, and all Amy could do was hope that her idea was the right one.

She moved out of the way to let the workers move it towards the doors. Once it was in position, Amy, along with everyone else, backed up and watched the dead Dalek with bated breath. Some of the stronger people in the group went over to some of the toppled crates and moved some so that they could be propped between the doors.

It took nearly a minute before the system could recognise what remained of the Dalek, but the large doors slid open to admit them all the same. As they did, Amy turned around to face the now free workers.

"Right, you lot," she cried out, "let's go!"

* * *

><p>The Doctor made it up to the higher level of the Daleks' side of the chamber to find it in chaos. Large amounts of crates had been toppled over and the Daleks that weren't caught in the middle of it or buried under the pile were trying to restore some sort of order by pushing them to the wall. He had a sneaking suspicion that Amy was probably the cause of all of it.<p>

"Having a bit of a problem?" he called out in a cheery tone. "Might want to get that sorted out."

"_It is the Doctor!"_

"_Exterminate! Exterminate!"_

"Oi, would you hold it for a second? I've got something of yours."

The Doctor raised the hand that held the oblivion continuum bomb high above his head and grinned mischievously. Three of the Daleks screeched in alarm, whilst the others simply kept their eyestalks locked on the Doctor and showed no signs whatsoever of being bothered by this development.

"My friend found this. Oblivion continuum bomb, isn't it? Lovely piece of technology. Really top-notch. What exactly have you got planned for this little thing?"

_"It is no concern of yours!"_

"Oh, go on, then. Just tell me."

"_With such a device, every species will be forced to obey the Daleks!"_ one Dalek boasted.

"_It was created before our arrival on this planet as both a tool and a_ weapon!" another called out._ "Fear of the destruction of their world and the worlds of others causes every species to obey commands!"_

The Doctor nodded, his face absolutely expressionless but his jaw clenched. "Of course," he murmured. "You tell them that it can wipe out their whole world and all of the others around it, and they don't have a choice but to do what you tell them to… and of course, they would have no idea how to use it, so putting any real security around the bomb isn't even necessary."

"_It is the perfect plan!"_

"_None but the Daleks can detonate the oblivion continuum bomb!"_

"Ah, but that's where you're wrong," the Doctor replied, his face beginning to show some of the anger that was bubbling inside him. "'Cos you see, I know all about these things. Never seen one, but that doesn't mean I don't know how they work. Signals and sonic waves can set them off. And isn't it lucky that I've got something that can set off sonic waves?"

In one swift motion, the Doctor removed his sonic screwdriver from his pocket and pointed it away from the Daleks and towards the control room. The panels of flashing buttons and keys were suddenly alive with sparks and small puffs of smoke, and most of the lights that he could see had burnt out.

"There go your controls. I'm the only one that can use it now. How about that?" the Doctor yelled, his voice sounding extremely smug.

"_You plan to detonate the device?"_

"If you don't let the people go, then yes."

"_We will not release the humans!"_

"_They are for the restoration of the Dalek empire! All hail the Daleks!"_

"_All hail the Daleks!"_

"Then I'm setting this bomb off. I'm going to wipe every damn one of you out of the sky once and for all. I don't even care that I'm going up too, d'you hear me? Because if it means that you're gone, then I'm just collateral damage."

Both the Doctor and the Daleks were momentarily distracted by several loud crashes in succession, which, in addition to the shrill alarms that were still sounding, was probably deafening to those below. One of the Daleks that had broken free of the rubble as the Doctor had been speaking moved past him and down the ramp again, on the hunt for whatever had created the noise.

"Leave them alone!" the Doctor yelled after it. "Don't you touch another hair on their heads!"

"_You speak with such pride and such arrogance,"_ another Dalek screamed at him, _"but you are a fool! The detonation of the bomb will cause the destruction of this whole world, along with the humans. You will not kill them! You are a coward!"_

"You're right. I might be a bit of a coward, and my friend might be a coward too, but do you know what? We're clever cowards, and we're not leaving those people alone down there at all. So, because those people are getting out whether you like it or not, I'm going to rephrase things a tad."

He moved closer to the nearest Dalek, and stared straight into its eyestalk.

"I might be a coward when it comes to humans, but I'm not a coward when it comes to you lot anymore. And you know what? I'm not making demands any longer. I'm setting off this bomb and I'm wiping you out. End of story."

* * *

><p>As soon as the doors were open, the workers ran as fast as they could from house to house, hurriedly explaining what was happening and urging everyone to come with them. Amy stood and watched, waiting for some people to return to the doors so that she could unlock the TARDIS. Soon enough, dozens were returning, bringing with them the weak and the strong, the young and the old, the male and the female, all of whom looked awestruck at the dead Dalek before them.<p>

"Come on, through here!" Amy called out to them. She hurried over to the TARDIS, turned her key in the lock and opened up what felt like another world to the inhabitants of Eira 12. As everyone rushed inside, Amy hollered a warning to not touch anything at all, and went out to the houses to help.

She felt excitement running through her veins as she found that more and more houses she was passing were completely empty. It was somewhat slow work, slower than she had hoped it would be, but it was certainly working and she was ecstatic about it. So were some of the younger children in the population, it seemed - one small girl she saw was cheering as she was herded along with the others. It was a beautiful contrast to the horrors of what she had seen when she first arrived there.

"Amy!"

She turned around and found Gwynn running towards her, a broad smile on his face. He reached forward and hugged her briefly, and after breaking away, said with a great amount of glee, "You're alive!"

"Yep," she replied. "And saving everyone. Help me with getting everyone into the blue box on the other side of the wall, yeah?"

"You bet. Did you say 'blue box'?"

She laughed and nodded. "Yeah, yeah. Just do it, alright? Fast!"

Gwynn agreed and ran off to help the others. Amy returned to the TARDIS and peered in, and was greeted with the beautiful sight of hundreds of people standing awestruck at the size of the interior. Children especially were full of wonder, but were strictly warned against exploring or touching anything by their elders.

The number of people that were entering now seemed to be dwindling, and Amy couldn't say that she was surprised by this. It appeared that everyone was already tightly packed inside, and it was almost time to go. Amy moved back out to look at the houses, and found a nearly breathless Gwynn coming towards her, arm in arm with a frail-looking elderly man who was shuffling along with a large amount of assistance.

"Last person," he gasped with a wide grin on his face. "That's it, that's everyone."

She smiled and nodded as they went past her into the TARDIS. Her joy at seeing the hope beginning to return to these people was diminished when she realised that the Doctor hadn't returned to her yet, but was still up there with the Daleks. He certainly wasn't dead, because the Daleks would have all come down the ramp to find her if he was. What was taking him so long?

She hated to admit it to herself, but the Doctor _had_ said that there was a chance that he would come join her, but that there was also a chance that he would not.

What if he was hurt? What if he needed someone to help him? He had given her a job, but what if he needed her, too? Her eyes flickered up to the ramp and she wondered how much time she had until the TARDIS took off. Perhaps she could-

"Amy!"

Gwynn was yelling out her name from somewhere behind her, and Amy became horribly aware of a grating noise from behind her. She didn't have any time to run up there at all - the TARDIS was already taking off.

When she did not respond, Gwynn ran out of the box, grabbed Amy's hand and pulled her inside, shutting the doors behind them.

* * *

><p>"<em>You will not detonate the device! What of your friend? You will not allow the girl to die!"<em>

The Daleks were bringing up each and every reason they could think of as to why the Doctor would be too cowardly to really kill them. They were wholeheartedly convinced that the Doctor was simply fibbing to buy some time. Little did they know that he meant every word that he said.

He'd seen too much death in his lifetime. It was constant, and often in large numbers, most of it at the hands of the Daleks. Several regenerations ago, perhaps he would have had more mercy. But he was so old now, so very old. He had seen enough of it to let it slide any longer, pacifist or not.

"You're right," he told them, "I'm not going to let the girl die. She's taking my TARDIS and she's going home. No TARDIS. No Amy. Just the Daleks and the Doctor."

"_Love is a weakness!"_ a Dalek screamed. _"Daleks have no such weakness! You have removed your means of escape, Doctor!"_

"I'm not escaping this time. But she is."

Confusing the Daleks, the Doctor held up his sonic screwdriver again, pointed it to the ground, and let it buzz for several seconds before pocketing it once again. If he had set things up properly, the TARDIS had just left the floor below and materialised on the surface of the planet. He could only hope that Amy had gotten everyone inside, herself included, in time.

"_Explain your actions! Explain!"_

"I've just sent her away. It's just me now. No more workers, either. That's right, there's nobody to build your precious guns and your Dalek saucers. None of that."

"_A Dalek saucer is already prepared!"_

"_The Doctor is a fool!"_

He snorted. "Yeah, I know that it's already prepared, I saw it down below. But you're not getting down there, and I'm willing to bet that your pal that went downstairs a while ago is dead, so he's not getting to it either. You're not escaping."

"_The ship on the level below is not our original ship. That ship has left the planet."_

"_There were not eight of the Dalek race remaining, Doctor! We have five valiant soldiers in the skies at this moment!"_

It hardly even took a moment for the Doctor to realise the meaning of the Daleks' words. The saucer down below was not even the original saucer, but was instead a duplicate of the original one that had already been prepared. The Doctor wanted to kick himself for being so unbelievably stupid. Why had he assumed that they only had one? Why had be believed anything they'd said at all?

"What're you saying? You've lied to me?"

"_Our ship is positioned near the planet Earth, with guns ready to exterminate the human population!"_

"No-"

"_Pitiful human slaves! They have helped to purge their own kind to reconstruct the Dalek race!"_

"_All hail the Daleks!"_

"_All hail the Daleks!"_

And that, the Doctor realised, was the choice he had to make. Either he let the Daleks go and rebuild the Dalek empire, or detonate the bomb, killing the Daleks once and for all, as well as himself, the inhabitants of planets nearby, and through the Daleks, the inhabitants of Earth as well. Both could mean the deaths of billions.

Here he was, the cowardly Doctor in the bowtie who had seen too much death already, with even more lives in his hands. There wouldn't even have been a way to circumvent it, he supposed. Even if he had kept Amy and the rest of the people with him to help get rid of these Daleks, that ship above the Earth would likely have received word and fired on the planet below. Every possible outcome was death.

"You're asking me to choose?"

"_That is correct! Decide! Decide!"_

"Shut up and let me think," the Doctor growled, his eyes narrowing as he spoke, "because there is no way I can just let you scarper off and kill some more people once you're done here. Not today."

"_Decide!"_

"I'm not making that decision, because you know what? I'm not choosing who gets to live and who gets to die. I'm never going to do that."

"_You lie!"_ a different Dalek screeched. _"You make such decisions each day! You are a coward and a murderer!"_

* * *

><p>Amy had hardly even closed the doors before the engines began to whirr at full speed. Dread filled her body and shock overtook her, and she stood stiffly in place, her eyes locked on the firmly shut wooden doors. They were leaving the underground chaos behind. They were leaving the Daleks behind. All of the pain, all of the suffering, and all of the hopelessness was staying there.<p>

And so was the Doctor.

"This is Emergency Programme One."

Amy looked back at the console, and found her feet again when she saw the Doctor standing there on the glass floor, just in front of the stairs. Only it wasn't the Doctor - not really. He was wearing the same outfit that he had been when she had last seen him, but this image of him was a bluish-green and was flickering like it was on a television screen.

"When this message is activated, it means that we're in serious danger. I mean, real, proper danger. The kind you don't get behind a desk in London."

She imagined that, were she not so shell-shocked, she would have laughed at that.

"It means I'm going to die. But you're here, and that's okay. You're safe now, and that's all that really matters. But listen, and listen carefully. I'm recording this while you're up above stealing that bomb for me. Thank you for that. I've programmed the TARDIS to go to two pre-programmed coordinates, the surface, and home in London on Boxing Day. Remember what I told you - let this old thing sit there."

"No," Amy heard herself whisper.

"I bet you're cross with me for saying that, but you need to. The fact that I've sent you away in the old girl means I can't let the Daleks get her. Nobody can get her. Let her sit on the street corner she lands on for the rest of time. Nobody will look twice, and the world will move on."

"But how can I?" Amy heard herself screaming. "How can I?"

"And I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry, Amy. I promised I'd protect you, and that's what I'm doing. You've been brilliant, Amy. So have a brilliant life, eh? Do that for me. Be with your family and your mates. Be the magnificent girl you are. For me."

The hologram flickered and died, and Amy was left staring openmouthed at the place where it had been. She was hardly even aware of the fact that hundreds of people were all staring with varying degrees of pity on their faces, all for the girl that was screaming and crying at an image.

She could vaguely hear Gwynn calling her name from somewhere behind her, and then heard him moving closer to her. He placed his hands on her shoulders and looked her in the eyes, trying to discover the cause of her distress.

"Amy, what's going on? What was that?"

"We're saving the others. We're going back up."

"But where is he? Where's your husband?" he asked in earnest.

Amy swallowed with some difficulty, finding that her throat was tight and her eyes were burning. After a heavy pause, she was able to find her voice again, and simply uttered, "He's dead."

Gwynn looked alarmed, but as the TARDIS has landed on the surface of Eira 12 as they had been speaking, Amy had a good excuse to end their conversation there. She wrenched the doors open again and stalked out into the bright sunlight in front of many of the awed travellers she had met before.

"Everyone, get inside the box! I don't have time to explain!"

Gwynn was next to her again, still looking at her with a concerned expression that was, quite frankly, annoying her more than she could even bear. She hadn't the time for heartfelt chitchat - not when even more lives were at stake.

"Get them inside," she told him quickly. She trudged off to go door-to-door, hoping Gwynn was doing the same.

The time it took them to clear out the surface of the planet was considerably less, as there were far less people than there had been underground. The last people to enter the TARDIS were Andromeda and William, who had been waiting in their home with worry for Amy and the Doctor, until Amy came through their front door. She stepped into the threshold of their house and as soon as William and Andromeda saw her, they stood up and hurried over to greet her. Out of the two of them, William's face showed the most relief at her appearance.

"Miss Amy!" William cried out. He ran over and hugged her around the middle, but Amy, being utterly numb, did not hug back.

"Oh, we've been so worried! You've been gone for hours!" Andromeda said with a gasp. "We were so worried that you'd… oh, how are you? Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," Amy murmured. "But I need you to come with me. The planet isn't safe, and we need to go."

"But why? Is the Doctor with you?"

Amy felt the tears she had been trying so hard to suppress begin to roll down her cheeks at the second Andromeda mentioned the Doctor's name. She couldn't even find her voice any longer and bowed her head, letting the tears fall, and Andromeda got the message. The anger that had risen in her after the Doctor's message was gone, replaced instead with a horrible emptiness.

"Oh. Oh, Amy. William, go with her."

Amy turned on her heel and went out the door with Andromeda and William following closely behind. With a trembling hand she wiped away her tears, but they continued to fall fast and she couldn't even stop herself from shaking.

She stepped into the TARDIS and Andromeda and William hesitated on the doorstep, booth dumbstruck at the sight before their eyes. Amy no longer had the strength or the willpower to guide them inside, and Gwynn took over.

She looked at no one, and made her way over to the area underneath the console, to the swing where the Doctor had so often sat. She sat down on it and closed her eyes, imagining that he was there, saying some daft and ridiculous thing about the workings of the TARDIS to her. But even her own imagination was betraying her, and the harder she tried to imagine him being there with her, the more he evaded her. She was losing every version of the Doctor she had.

"Amy, come out."

She opened her eyes to find Gwynn there in front of her, staring at her with that same look of great concern. She had to admit, it was considerable less annoying to her now that her anger had softened. Amy reached out to hold his outstretched hand and he pulled her out from underneath the glass floor, bringing her out into the congregation of people.

"Tell me. Tell me what's happened. Explain everything."

She wanted to go up the stairs to her bed and lie there forever, to never leave the blue box she lived in. She wanted to make everyone leave and try to fly back to him. She wanted to never speak of any of this again. But that wasn't what he'd have wanted, and deep down, it wasn't what Amy wanted, either. She needed to get it all out.

She closed her eyes and waited until the words came to her. She spoke clearly, her voice no longer marred by her sadness. Once the words she needed came to her and poured from her lips, they were hard to stop.

"We found a bomb in the Dalek's storage that could have wiped out the whole planet and all the others near it. I gave it to him and he told me that he was going to confront them about everything they had been doing to you. To all of you. He said that he was going to do everything he could to come back to us, but that if he couldn't, he would set this machine up to take us all to Earth, so that we could be safe and avoid the... e-explosion. It's called the TARDIS. It travels in time and space, and that's what I've been doing with him. We're travellers."

"The world will never even know what he did for us," Amy continued. "For all of us. If he sent us away, it means he gave himself up to kill the Daleks for good. He's saved our lives again and again, and nobody ever knows. And now they never will. The Doctor was my best friend, and I-"

Amy stopped and stared off into the distance. Everyone else followed suit and watched as the engines began to start for a third time.

* * *

><p>"I'm not making this decision," the Doctor repeated, now full-on screaming at the Daleks.<p>

"_Decide! Decide!"  
><em>

"No! Nobody else is going to die because of me!" the Doctor hollered. He was nearly shaking with rage, and it took all of his strength to not reach out and overturn the nearest Dalek. "I've seen enough!"

"_Then you have already decided!"_

The realisation hit him then that they were right; he _had_ decided. And, he thought, there was no way his choice could have been anything else. He had to let them go. He wasn't willing to have this turn out any other way. They were right when they had said that love was his weakness, he supposed. His desire to never let a creature so full of pure hatred kill the innocent would always overpower his desire to cleanse the universe of such an evil.

"_The time corridor is ready!"_ a previously silent Dalek informed the group.

"Sorry, what?"

"_We have had a time corridor prepared for this moment, Doctor! We will go in search of the last progenitor device in the universe, and with it, we shall restore the Da-"_

"Yes, yes, Dalek empire. I've heard enough of it! I've had enough! If I let you go, you'll find the progenitor device, and you'll be able to create the new race of Daleks. They'll probably be stronger than ever."

"_This is true!"_

_"The time has come! We must depart!"_

The Doctor did not even move, nor did he know what to say any longer. Even prolonging it wouldn't do any good. He simply stood and stared forwards, utterly helpless to intervene in any way as the Daleks moved into the control room he had previously wrecked. Instead of torturing himself further by standing by and watching them go, he chose to speak about something he had been wondering about.

"Before you go, answer one more question."

"_What is your question?"_

"Something's trailing me. What is it?"

"_We know nothing of this."_

"You're lying. And d'you know how I know that? Because I'm here right now. If you really wanted to win, you'd just kill me and get away, because that's how you play, isn't it? I have no means of escape, so why just leave me? And what about the Earth? You _never_ just fly away when there's a chance you can kill a race. There's a reason you need the Earth. I think you need me for something too. There's some plan involving me, isn't there? Something's been going on for ages, and it's been catching my eye. There's something following me, right? Something big. Something's coming, but what?"

"_We do not know what you mean."_

The Doctor exhaled loudly, and with his jaw clenched, said, "I'm going to ask you again: what's following me?"

"_The Daleks do not know."_

"I'm not in the mood for games. _What's following me?_"

The Daleks did not respond immediately, and the Doctor waited for an answer. His eyes narrowed and stared at them with a searching look, trying to understand. There was clearly something going on, and most likely, the Daleks were finding the most cryptic way to explain it to him. Wasn't that always the way?

"_Your death, Doctor. Death is coming. For you and for the girl."_

The Doctor was caught so off-guard that he froze in place, and before he could ask the Daleks anything more, they disappeared through the time corridor in a flash of light. He was left alone in a hollowed-out planet full of destruction, devoid of the enslaved people of Eira 12, his TARDIS, and Amy. He had sent them all away, though he imagined that the only one that would have really had an issue with leaving him was Amy. _Amy_. He thought of her and knew that by this point, she would be extremely upset that he had made her leave without him. Nearly inconsolable, even.

At the very least, he now had an answer to the question that had been plaguing his mind for some time. He hadn't been imagining a pattern in that makeshift museum from long ago after all. Something _was_ after him. Death, as it seemed. But the Daleks had said 'for you and for the girl', hadn't they? He did not care nearly as much for his life as he did for Amy's, and he certainly not going to let anything hurt her.

Not ever.

He sighed deeply and pulled his sonic screwdriver from his pocket. It was time to go home.

* * *

><p>When the engines stopped again, all eyes were fixed back on Amy, but she was not the first to hurry over to the TARDIS doors. Gwynn was the one that took the opportunity.<p>

He slowly opened the lock, cracked the door open and peeked out. The Doctor stood there, unsmiling and looking extremely fatigued. He stepped into the doorframe of his ship, and the crowd in the console room erupted. The rescued people of Eira 12 cheered, hugging one another and clapping upon realising that they were well and truly freed. It was strange to see all of these people that had once been so empty coming alive again, but the Doctor thrived on it and grinned widely as several people came over to embrace him.

Everyone's eyes searched the console room for him. The Doctor's eyes, however, searched the room for his companion. Amy was standing only a few feet away and was staring at him, hardly even blinking. Before he could even speak a single word to her, she began walking towards him, still staring, and grabbed the lapels of his jacket. Without even a moment's hesitation, she tilted her head upwards and kissed him.

He was no longer aware of the large group of gawking people around them, but only of Amy. He was aware of the feel of her hands on his chest and on the back of his neck, of the brush of her hair against his cheek, of the warmth of her skin and the sweet taste of her lips. He was also very aware of the fact that she was crying (and rather hard, too), and he could hear tiny whimpers each time she broke away for air. He was consumed by her, and thought to himself that as far as distractions go, this probably trumped all of them.

Amy, on the other hand, was very aware of the fact that the Doctor was kissing her back and that his arms were latched tightly around her waist, pulling her even closer. She wasn't sure whether he meant to do this or if it was a momentary lapse in judgement, but she took advantage of it all the same and kissed him harder. She was sure that she seemed ridiculous to have had so many violent changes in mood in the span of a few minutes, but that hardly even mattered anymore. The Doctor wasn't dead, he was there with her, and he was actually kissing her back. She couldn't imagine that anything else really even mattered.

Both Amy and the Doctor had forgotten that they were standing in a console room full of people, as everyone nearby had gone silent again as they watched the scene unfold. Someone amongst them began to clap once more and caused the entire crowd to begin cheering for the second time, the sound of which brought both the Doctor and Amy back to reality.

As they broke apart, Amy noticed that the Doctor looked rather alarmed. "Kissing _and_ crying. Eurgh," he muttered.

Though she was absolutely furious with what the Doctor had done, the majority of Amy's anger turned to relief and pure joy at seeing him there, all in one piece without a scratch on him. She wanted with every fibre of her being to punch him, to kick him and to yell at him, but somehow, all she could do was cry, kiss him fiercely, and then give a shaky, teary laugh.

"Right," the Doctor said loudly, looking around at the congregation of people, "time to go home."

* * *

><p>The Doctor landed the TARDIS back on the surface of Eira 12, and as he piloted the ship, explained to everyone how his previous versions of Emergency Programme One had not been fitted to have an escape route. It had taken a lot of tinkering, he said, but he was finally able to make the TARDIS leave and return with his sonic screwdriver, which he showed the crowd.<p>

The travellers from the surface were happy to be back in their vacation homes, and the freed people from underground were ecstatic to see the light of day once more. After much discussion, it was decided between both groups that they would rebuild the abandoned homes, and their world would be brought back to normal. The underground world, however, was another story. An agreement could not be reached on whether or not to leave it as it was, go underground and destroy everything, or go underground and rebuild from the ground up. What to do with the Dalek technology was another hotly debated question, once which eventually received an answer. Both groups promised to the Doctor that the technology and weapons would be destroyed, but with the captives' new knowledge of technology, Eira 12 could build up defences of their own. It was the dawn of a new era on the planet.

The people were, as a whole, overjoyed with their new freedom. Each thanked the Doctor and Amy in turn, and many even came back two or three times. To be regarded as such a hero was nothing new to the Doctor, but to Amy, it was a completely new feeling, and one that she was certainly happy to enjoy.

After a while, the Doctor took Amy aside and the two were in hurried conversation for nearly thirty minutes while, many assumed, he explained to her what had happened after he had sent her away. The Doctor and Amy looked full of life to everyone else that laid eyes on them, but only Gwynn suspected that there was sadness buried deep. He had briefly seen the Doctor's eyes before they had returned to the surface, and noticed that his eyes were considerably older than the rest of his body. With Amy, on the other hand, he didn't have to guess. He had seen her in the TARDIS when she had believed the Doctor dead. He didn't want to ever have to see anything like that again. She had managed to get some of that pain out, he noticed, after she'd smacked the Doctor in the shoulder multiple times.

Gwynn looked knowingly over at the Doctor and Amy, and his eyes flickered down at their clasped hands. Immediately after Amy had launched herself at the floppy haired man and kissed him harder than Gwynn imagined she would, Amy had seemingly refused to let go of his hand, even for a second.

He did not doubt that the show of affection was genuine - not even in the slightest - but he did notice that neither Amy nor the Doctor were wearing any sort of wedding ring. He supposed that when it came to the fact that they had been lying about their marriage, he was rather slow on the uptake, but when it came to how much the two of them truly cared for one another, he was not slow at all. He wondered if he'd noticed it even before they did.

When Amy's gaze finally fell on him, Gwynn grinned and nodded his head towards her and the Doctor's hands. She looked down at them and smiled back at him. He thought she might have even winked.

It soon came time for Amy and the Doctor to leave Eira 12, and they left with an ovation from everyone that they had saved that day. Stories would travel down through the generations on that planet for the rest of time - stories that spoke of the man in the blue box and the girl with the red hair, the travellers that had saved them all.

* * *

><p>Night had fallen in the TARDIS - well, what Amy considered to be night - and things were quiet and still once more. As Amy laid back on her bed removing her boots, she realised that she could not even hear the Doctor moving about in the console room. No noises from the controls at all, and certainly none of his usual occasional whoops of glee. Even the ship's engines were down to a quiet hum, and Amy figured that the TARDIS probably did this sensing the hidden anguish in both of her passengers.<p>

Amy greeted the Doctor with a quiet 'hey' as she came down the stairs of the TARDIS again. She'd changed into her nightie and dressing gown after realising that she was utterly exhausted and was likely to fall asleep rather easily. Besides, the soft material was far more gentle on her body than her heavy boots and several near-death experiences had been. After the events of that day, any bit of comfort was a godsend.

The Doctor seemed rather distracted by something, and shook his head as though clearing it before he noticed Amy's presence in the room.

"Oh! Hello Pond."

"Hidden the bomb away?"

"Yep. I've disabled it, and it's deep in the TARDIS now. No more problems."

She smiled and joined him at the console, dropping a key in front of him. "Thanks for the key."

The Doctor picked it up, reached for Amy's hand and dropped the small key back into it. "You can keep it. Consider it a late Christmas present."

"Oh my god, thank you! That's… wow. I've got a key to a time machine. That'll be something to tell the grandkids," she said with a loud laugh.

The Doctor gave a weak smile in return as Amy put the string over her neck and tucked it under her nightie. She patted over her heart as though making sure the key was still there, and looked back over to him.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine."

"No, you aren't. What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong."

"It's the Daleks, isn't it? I know they got away, Doctor, but think of how many people you saved. And you're still going to have a chance to find them again. It wasn't all wasted," she assured him gently.

The Doctor continued to avoid eye contact with Amy and stare down at the controls, acting as though they were the most interesting things he had ever seen. Amy wasn't fooled, though, and watched what he was doing very carefully.

"Are we having a party or something?" she asked him with a smug grin.

The Doctor raised an eyebrow. "What?"

She pointed to the buttons his hands were pressing. "You're programming the radio."

The Doctor stopped moving his hands and sighed heavily, turning his attention back to Amy. She was alarmed to see a different emotion in his eyes from the one she had been expecting - complete and utter worry was clouding his face. This was one of those very rare times that Amy could see both the Doctor's young exterior and the centuries-old alien that remained hidden underneath.

"Tell me what else is wrong," she murmured.

He stayed silent for nearly a minute before uttering in a small voice, "Something's following us."

Amy nodded. "Yeah, we knew that already. I saw all that stuff when we were with Marie, remember? All those things from places you've been, exactly when you've been there?"

The Doctor sighed again and rubbed hard at his face. "It's serious, Amy. I don't think it's a coincidence anymore. There are things I haven't told you."

She did not answer, choosing instead to keep quiet until he had revealed what was wrong. She took a seat in the nearest jumpseat and kept looking at the Doctor, whose face continued to appear pained.

"It's not just that museum, Amy. Something's been going on for a long time. I kept trying to pretend that everything was a coincidence, but… there are too many coincidences, Amy. I can't ignore them any longer. Remember the Weeping Angels? You were in the dark with it for a long time, Amy. It could have killed you then and there, but it didn't. At first, I started to wonder if it spent that whole time in the dark trying to scare you, but then I wondered if there was another reason. Maybe it couldn't kill you."

Amy screwed up her face in confusion. "How d'you mean?"

"Maybe it needed you alive for something. Just like how the Daleks need _me_ alive for something."

"They do?"

He nodded stiffly. "They could've killed me on the spot, but they didn't. They didn't deny it when I confronted them with it, either. But then again, they're liars, so you can never be sure anyway. Back to my point. You keep thinking you see things, don't you?"

Amy wanted to respond to this in the negative, but felt for some reason that the Doctor was right. But how exactly _was_ he right? She hadn't seen anything, so why did she feel as though she had?

"I've noticed it, Amy. Sometimes I catch you just staring at something, or you just gasp at an empty space. You keep seeing things."

"I… I don't-"

"It's not your fault, don't worry. There are a lot of things I still don't understand, but I definitely know that this is not your fault. We've got to start doing some real research on this. Not in a library or anything like that, though. We're going to ask someone who'd really notice if something was going on."

"And what about that ship on my sister's house?" Amy asked quickly, before he could change the topic. "You know, the one that crashed, and had all of the crew dead. I still don't understand how that got there."

"Nor do I. But I have a feeling we're going to find out soon enough. We need to."

Unsure of what exactly to say next, Amy looked down at the floor, and both she and the Doctor went silent again. Not wanting to accidentally fall asleep in the console room, Amy stood up, stretched her arms above her head, yawned, and moved towards the Doctor.

"I think I'm done for the evening. 'Night, Doctor."

Amy placed both hands on his shoulders and stood on tiptoe to kiss his forehead, and quickly let out a little squeak of surprise when the Doctor responded by wrapping his arms around her in a fiercely tight hug.

"I'm so, so sorry," she heard him whisper to her.

She relaxed in his embrace and wound her arms around his neck before burying her face in the shoulder of his jacket. She supposed that what both of them probably needed most of all at the moment was simply a good hug.

"'S'okay," she whispered. "I know."

He whispered apologies over and over again, all the while rubbing her back to comfort her. It felt so strange to him, apologising so much. This regeneration wasn't used to such a thing - his previous one, certainly, but not this one. But after what he'd done, he felt it was more than necessary.

The Doctor continued to hold her close, with one hand around her waist and the other on her back. His hand on her back rubbed comforting circles through the layers of fabric, and Amy nuzzled closer into his shoulder, the rhythmic beating of his two hearts soothing her.

If she were to fall asleep in the console room, she thought, perhaps it wouldn't be so bad.

* * *

><p>"The Doctor has not yet learnt the truth."<p>

The spider-like ship continued to sit in deep space, overlooking the Earth and in close proximity to the Dalek's only intact saucer. The Dalek ship was enough to frighten a population, but the mysterious and far more menacing ship beside it was, and was certainly going to continue to be, the cause of far more trouble.

"He soon will," came the reply.

With the girl captured, it would only be a matter of time until the Doctor came running for her. It was his nature, and would be his downfall. Her captors had laid out a trail across time and space, and he would certainly follow. She would remain in her cell, confused and alone, until the right time came. Until then, she would be forced to wait.

Meanwhile, in her cell, the girl ran a shaking hand across her stomach and cried for what felt like an eternity, until her exhaustion took control and her own shaking breath lulled her into an uneasy sleep.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Blimey, this is really long. I think this is the longest chapter I've ever written! There is a LOT going on here, and hopefully this will tide you all over for a while. I'm out of the country for nearly a week, and then I start school, so I might be a bit slow with the next update. But anyway, thank you for your continued support! It's all still absolutely unbelievable to me, and I'm very thankful. x**

**I'm also dropping a lot of hints in this chapter. And in regards to the very last bit - it's probably not who you think it is. ;)**


	23. Chapter 23

Holiday resorts, beaches and gardens. That's all Amy saw anymore.

Since their encounter with the Daleks, the Doctor seemed to be taking special care to avoid places that seemed even halfway dangerous, and appeared to be doing everything in his power to cheer Amy up. They frequented Space Florida so often that the staff at the resorts there could recognise the two of them in a crowd, much to the Doctor's amusement. He also seemed to be taking her to more and more places that had hardly ever brought in tourists, let alone invaders. One in particular was a small, unassuming planet, the ground of which felt as though it was one large mattress, cushion-like and springy.

None of this was at all an inconvenience to Amy. That was the beauty of travelling with the Doctor: it was never a bore. Every era in time and every world was something new and unexplored, and every day was an adventure. Lush gardens full of technicolour blooms and creeping vines and beaches of porcelain-white sand were very unlike anything she would ever have an opportunity to see at home, but there was still a definite difference in the way things felt in the TARDIS.

Sure, the Doctor was beginning to act differently around her - he was not nearly as hesitant in grabbing her hand or planting an exultant kiss on her forehead any longer - but the way they lived felt different. She could not remember the last rush of adrenaline in her system as she ran from something hostile, the thrilling fear of taking a huge risk with the Doctor's hand in hers, or even the last time she had run at _all_. There had been a certain magic when the Doctor had first picked her up all that time ago. The Doctor and Amy Pond, the former clad in his bowtie and tweed and her in her nightie, running to the stars on Christmas Eve. It felt as though it was something straight out of a fairytale, like they were Peter Pan and Wendy. Amy didn't think Wendy had spent very much time with Peter sipping lemonade poolside.

When Amy decided to bring this up with the Doctor, she hadn't considered the proper time and place for the conversation. She began whilst the two of them were preparing to go to what the Doctor described as being 'like Hawaii under the sea', and the argument quickly became so heated that the two found themselves bellowing at each other for things that were completely unrelated to the original point. Amy began yelling about the Doctor's apparent inability to knock before entering a room, and the Doctor went off on Amy for how long she took to get ready in the mornings. It only ended due to an interference from the TARDIS - there had been a loud whirr out of nowhere and the console room shook violently for about two seconds, just enough time for the Doctor and Amy to go stumbling in different directions. Upon regaining balance, the two stormed off to opposite ends of the ship, both refusing to properly address the other for what Amy felt was several hours.

Amy later equated this to the fact that the Doctor missed the true adventure just as much as she did, and that he felt equally as cooped up. Amy was beginning to wonder just why he was keeping their trips so careful - was he protecting her from something? Were they running? Was it because of those things Amy had been seeing?

After a few hours, the Doctor's spirits had brightened considerably. He later strode around the console room with a smug look on his face, and after much prompting from Amy, the Doctor revealed that he had gone on a short visit to drop off a gift. Further prompting unveiled the truth that he had, in fact, visited a younger Amy and given her a doll as a sort of peace offering. Much to her annoyance, she found that could remember the doll exactly, and could even vaguely remember a man in strange clothing giving it to her one morning. She admitted this before she could stop herself, causing the Doctor to adopt a smug look, which he wore nonstop for the rest of the day. She responded by giving him the occasional playful smack on the shoulder.

Perhaps Amy needed to do something to intervene and make things more interesting. She considered this for quite some time until the idea popped into her head one day that they could go to visit someone from back home on Earth. She considered the two people whom she had already told about the Doctor - Gemma and Daisy - and immediately chose Daisy, having decided that Gemma would have a far more hilarious reaction to the inside of the TARDIS, and that she definitely needed the mood lift that her reaction would bring.

On the morning she had been planning to bring this idea up with the Doctor, he came to her first. Amy sat up hurriedly at the sound of movement outside of her bedroom door and was startled when the Doctor ran into her room, seemingly in the middle of a conversation with her that she had not heard the beginning of.

"So that's why we need- ah!"

Amy had wrenched her sheets up to cover herself out of habit as he had been speaking, and the Doctor seemed to take this as a bad sign. He clapped his hands over his eyes and stopped dead in his tracks, his entire form completely stiff.

"Stop, stop! Stay where you are!"

"Doctor, I'm-"

"Just… just stay as you are, I'll leave!"

The Doctor began to attempt to back out of the room, but due to the fact he had been covering his eyes with both hands, he did not make very good progress. He backed sharply into a table and sent a small lamp toppling to the floor, all the while still keeping his eyes covered.

"I'm dressed, you idiot," Amy hollered. "Mind not breaking everything in here?"

He paused for a brief moment as though considering whether or not this was the truth, then peeked through a small crack between his fingers and with a loud sigh of relief, removed his hands from his face. "Oh, good. You have no idea how many times I've walked into a bedroom to find… well, that's not important."

"Maybe you wouldn't have any issues if you'd just _knock_," Amy said pointedly. "I've told you about that, remember?"

"Yes, yes. Anyway, Pond, we've got things to do today."

"Space Florida finally had an invasion?"

"No, that's not it. Not yet, anyway. Give it another hundred years. We've got to find an answer to a problem before we worry about that."

She felt a sudden increase in her interest in what he was telling her. "Have you worked out what it is I keep seeing?"

He screwed up his face. "No, it's not that. Well, it kind of is. Wait, weren't you listening to me before?"

"I can't hear through walls."

"Well, that's rubbish. Anyway," he said, moving to sit on the edge of Amy's bed, "I was thinking that we could…. sort of bring someone along. But no families! I don't do families."

"You're lucky that I've been thinking about suggesting the same thing, or I'd be offended by that shot at families. D'you have a problem with my sister or something?"

"No, no!" the Doctor said quickly, shaking his head vigorously. "Your sister is brilliant. Absolutely wonderful. I've just... had issues with families in the past. Makes things a bit messy."

Amy nodded. "Fair enough. I've been thinking of Daisy, anyway. You have any ideas?"

He smirked. "One."

* * *

><p>Amy finally hauled herself from the warmth of her bed and made her way downstairs half an hour later, clad in her usual large jumper, short skirt and lace-up boots. Running one hand through her long red hair - which seemed to have decided to adopt some of her sister's curls overnight - she went over to meet the Doctor at the console, where he was savagely attacking what looked like a computer keyboard under the controls with a wrench.<p>

"Whatcha doing?"

The Doctor jumped upwards upon hearing her voice and managed to forget about the presence of the console, ending up smacking his head sharply against it and dropping the wrench. Backing up slowly whilst rubbing the top of his head, he raised himself to his full height once more to meet Amy's gaze, his eyes squinted in pain.

"Argh, blimey!" he hissed. "Took you long enough, Pond. Now, shall we pick up Daisy first?"

Amy lowered herself into a jumpseat. "Lead on, captain."

He nodded and with a half-smile, half-grimace - he was still rubbing the top of his head - he began to pilot the ship with his free hand. The TARDIS dematerialised from deep space and reappeared in London, five minutes after Amy Pond had left the planet. Only this time, she was back in another flat.

* * *

><p>Daisy Edwards had fallen asleep whilst talking to Amy on the phone, and had awoken only when her phone began to make a shrill beeping sound in her ear after Amy had hung up. She pawed at her face, rubbing clumsily at her eyes until she was able to see once more, and focused her mind. How had she nearly forgotten that it was Christmas?<p>

She swung her legs over the edge of her sofa and reached for the remote control on the side table to turn off the television. She was unable to find any enjoyment in Frosty the Snowman when dead on her feet, so she hoisted herself up and strode into the kitchen.

_Funny noise the sink's making_, she thought to herself._ I'll sort it out in the morning._

She put all the plates and glasses that littered the kitchen counter into the sink in question and turned around to stalk into her bedroom and collapse on top of her sheets when out of the blue, a strong gust of wind hit her squarely in the face, blowing her hair back.

…_.okay, that's a new one._

The noise she believed to be coming from the sink increased in volume, now beginning to sound more like a shoddy car engine. Another gust of wind blew across her kitchen, this time so strong that it blew papers around her in a storm. All of this combined with Daisy's complete exhaustion was so deeply confusing to her that she stood with her mouth agape, unable to come to any realisation as to what was happening.

Until a blue police box began to appear in front of her.

A thunderous bang followed the box's appearance, and the kitchen was still once more. Still devoid of any clue of what to do, Daisy continued to stare at this new appearance in her flat, and began to wonder if perhaps she had accidentally slipped some alcohol into her hot chocolate that evening.

Shocking Daisy even further, the door of the police box opened, and a redheaded girl that was very familiar to her popped out and stood in front of her in the middle of the kitchen.

"Remember what I was saying earlier about a Christmas miracle?"

* * *

><p>"How's she doing?"<p>

"Oh, she's fine," Amy told the Doctor with a nonchalant wave of her hand as she made her way down the staircase. "She's all tucked into a new bed now. I think we should let her sleep for a bit. She was pretty out of it, and I had to help her into bed. Kept muttering something about 'too much gin in the chocolate'."

After their startling appearance in Daisy's kitchen, the Doctor and Amy had had to all but pick her up and carry her into the ship. The shock of something so alien combined with her fatigued demeanour hadn't done wonders for her consciousness, and Daisy transferred from a look of wonder at the inside of the TARDIS to having her eyes completely closed as though she had been asleep several times before Amy decided to haul her up to bed.

"Are you sure this isn't kidnapping, though?" Amy said with a grin. "We landed in her flat in the middle of the night, dragged her inside and took off again. That's not exactly a good way of inviting your friend along on a holiday."

"That's pretty much what I did with you," he pointed out. "That worked out fine, didn't it?"

She raised an eyebrow at him. "That's hardly what you did with me. So, who's this mysterious person you want to pick up next?"

The Doctor grinned at her with a wide, excited smile, and shook his head. "Patience, Pond!"

He tugged the nearest lever downwards and a familiar deep rumble shook through the ship as the engines began to whirr and come to life. To Amy, this was perhaps the most exciting part about their adventures - the huge mystery of where they were going to end up next. Sometimes the Doctor kept it a surprise and sometimes he told her, but for the most part, the TARDIS was the one that chose where they would go next, and she was an unpredictable being.

Upon landing, the Doctor took Amy's hand, led her out to the doors, and brought her outside and straight into-

"Snow," Amy said sadly, staring up at the sky. "Again. Are you doing this on purpose?"

"The snow is definitely not why we're here, Amelia. Just wait about a minute or so. You'll meet an old… friend of mine, I guess you could call him. Anyway, good ol' Cardiff, eh? Lovely weather for a bit of a pit stop."

"We're in Cardiff?" Amy asked, scrunching up her nose.

"Oh, come on, Pond, be more cheerful than that. Look, a different country! A different city! You're definitely not from Wales!" the Doctor said, extending his arms to gesture to the area around them. "See? Travelling!"

She rolled her eyes and looked out into the crowds beyond the box to see a man in a long blue coat running full-speed towards them. She instinctively grabbed hold of the nearest sleeve of the Doctor's tweed jacket to spin him around, hoping that this was the person the Doctor had been waiting for and not some sort of madman bent on attacking them. With the Doctor, she was never sure anymore.

"Erm, Doctor, who's that?"

"Ah, there we go! It's Jack!"

"That's the mystery man, yeah?"

The runner finally met up with them, a look of joy plastered onto his face at the sight of the blue box. He skidded through the snow and stopped himself just before running into the Doctor, however, and looked hesitantly at him. From what Amy could tell, the man the Doctor called Jack recognised the TARDIS, but certainly didn't recognise the Doctor.

"Doctor?"

"New face!" the Doctor exclaimed, beaming. "Pretty different. Sorry about that."

He began to laugh heartily and Jack did the same, and the pair embraced each other, clapping each other hard on the back in their hug. Despite the fact that Jack was several inches taller than the Doctor, he managed to make him look like a small child. Jack was tall and imposing in his long coat, and the Doctor resembled a little boy in his father's clothing.

After breaking apart, the Doctor looked over and Amy and said exuberantly, "Amelia Pond, meet Captain Jack Harkness, time-traveller and leader of Torchwood Three."

The man before them was tall with crinkly, kind eyes and brown hair. His long, sweeping coat that seemed to suit him - and what Amy already knew of his personality - perfectly. _Mysterious, heroic, and the coat screams 'ego', _she thought. _Sounds like another certain time traveller I know. Minus the coat._

He stuck out his hand and winked at her, flashing a set of pearly white teeth. "Hello, Amelia."

She clasped his hand and shook it firmly. "Amy," she corrected with a smile. "I think the Doctor's mentioned you. You're immortal, right? Can't ever die?

Jack broke their handshake and put both of his hands into the pockets of his coat. "It would seem so, yeah," he said. There was an air of finality to Jack's voice as he spoke, and so Amy decided that it was best not to pursue the subject any further.

The Doctor, on the other hand, did not seem to take any notice of the complete change in the mood of the conversation and snapped his fingers to open the TARDIS doors.

"Shall we?" he asked with a broad smile. "After you, Jack."

He waited for the two companions to enter the ship before he did and shut the doors firmly behind all of them, keeping the snow and the chill in the air outside as best he could.

"You've really spruced the place up, Doctor. It's very orange. Like a bad tan, almost," the man joked.

The TARDIS gave an indignant whirr and the Doctor placed a comforting hand on the doors he had closed behind him, as though trying to soothe this ship. "'S'alright, dear. He doesn't mean that."

"He still talks to the box?" Jack asked Amy quietly, a disbelieving look crossing his face. "I thought he'd stopped doing that."

"Oh yeah, he still does it," she whispered back as the Doctor went up to the console. "There have been times when I've walked in here and wished I hadn't. They clearly need some alone-time."

"I can hear you!" the Doctor called out. "Are you coming in here properly or not?"

After hanging up his coat on the rack beside the doors, Jack went up the steps to what he considered a brand-new console, Amy following closely behind him. He grinned down at it, finding there to be quite a few more random nick-knacks built into the circuitry now than he ever remembered there being. He didn't bring it up to the Doctor, but he was fairly sure that he saw something that resembled a rubber duck wedged below the clear panels as though it was vital to the well-being of the controls.

"It's really different," Jack said with a laugh. "No more coral, huh?"

"'Course it's different. I'm different too!" the Doctor said excitedly. "Now, hang on!"

After a rather bumpy flight (which the Doctor equated to the fact that the TARDIS did not like Captain Jack very much), the ship was back to deep space, far away from the Earth. Telling Jack and Amy to get acquainted with one another - but shooting a warning glance in Jack's direction first - the Doctor soon slipped beneath the console to the swing he frequented during repair work, or whenever he was trying to avoid something. At that moment, Amy wasn't sure which one was his reason for hurrying off.

Amy quickly learnt that the strange glance the Doctor had given Jack had meant. It seemed that Jack was a bit of a flirt with pretty much everyone - he'd even given the Doctor a wink or two since he'd joined them - and Amy Pond was no exception. Allusion after allusion to her long legs and her wavy red hair came out of his mouth, but she knew perfectly well how to deflect it. Two could play at that game.

"So, are you single at the moment?" Amy asked, twiddling a lock of hair between her fingers.

He smirked. "Depends on what time period you're asking about. Are you interested, Miss Pond?"

She shrugged casually and put a hand on her hip. "I might be. Are _you_?"

"Hmm. Well-"

"Stop it, Jack," the Doctor said threateningly from underneath the console.

_A jealous Doctor and a flirt knocked down a peg. Even better_, Amy thought to herself.

"Didn't mean to intrude. I didn't know the lovely Miss Pond was yours," he said with a grin. Though he was speaking to the Doctor, his eyes were fixed solely on Amy.

"I'm not anyone's," she told him with a sly smile, "but he's definitely jealous at the moment."

"I am not!" the Doctor called out.

Amy felt sure that Jack would have continued teasing the Doctor if Daisy hadn't chosen that moment to make an entrance. She hesitated at the top of the stairs for a split second, then went down towards the console, her eyes wary. Amy couldn't blame her - to be fair, she hadn't really gotten onboard completely conscious, not to mention that glass stairs in an unfamiliar environment are never easy to navigate without injury.

"Another stowaway, Doctor?" Jack called down through the floor. "Two girls at once. Nice."

Luckily for him, Daisy was still groggy, and appeared to have not heard his words. She made her way over to Jack and Amy, rubbing ferociously at her eyes.

"So Amy, have I had too much or did you actually land a spaceship in my kitchen?" she asked drily. "

Amy smirked. "No, that actually happened. So, Daisy, meet Captain Jack Harkness. Jack, this is my friend Daisy. We picked her up a while ago but she was taking a bit of a nap. To be fair, it _was_ the middle of the night. Oh, and _no_, by the way."

"_No_?" he asked innocently as he shook Daisy's hand. "What're you talking about?"

"You know exactly what I'm talking about. Just… don't."

Jack grinned and saluted her. "Message received, ma'am."

"She's learnt from the best, Jack!" the Doctor yelled from below. Amy thought for a split second she heard a clang of metal and a faintly whispered string of profanities immediately following this, but ignored it.

"Don't get cocky," she yelled back. "And stop looking up, I'm wearing a skirt. For someone that nearly killed himself trying to avoid looking at me in my bedroom this morning, you're very free with you eyes now."

Daisy listened to all of this, standing there in complete disbelief. She'd known that her friend could be a flirt at times, but this was something new altogether. As though understanding what she was thinking, Jack's eyes turned to her and he gave her a knowing look.

"D'you know I've had people call me 'Captain of the Innuendo Squad' in the past. Hell, I don't even have to _try_ around you, Miss Pond. You're making it so easy, I don't even have to say a word."

"I'm sensing that having the two of you in the same room," Daisy said, pointing to both Jack and Amy, "was a very bad idea."

"Agreed!" the Doctor replied. "You know, sound travels very well down here, so rest easy, Pond, I'm not looking up at you. I'm looking at this stupid wire. I'm being very clever down here, and it just keeps- oh damn it!"

Amy snorted. "So, Daisy, how was your sleep?"

"Lovely, actually," she told her, perking up. "I've never been in a bed that comfortable before. Okay, I've never been in a bed in a spaceship, period. So this thing really is… real?

"Yep."

"And John wasn't really your boyfriend's name? It was actually the Doctor?"

"Ye- hey, we're not even-"

Daisy ignored her and continued. "And I'm in a spaceship?"

"Oh! Erm, yeah. This is the TARDIS. Stands for Time and Relative Dimensions in Space. Looks like a blue police box and is considerably bigger on the inside."

"I'm beginning to see that, yeah," Daisy said in a quiet voice, looking around the room. Her words quickly died away and her attention grew even more distant from Amy until it looked as though she had forgotten anyone else was in the room. She stood on the spot, occasionally turning slightly to get a better view, her eyes darting hungrily around as though she would never be able to take it all in. A smile began to stretch across her lips.

"This is brilliant," Daisy told her friend, her brown eyes gleaming with excitement. "Absolutely brilliant. How could you keep all of this a secret?"

"You know why," Amy told her. "It's brilliant, but it's mad as hell. Besides, it's kind of like a secret, you know? It's something you get to keep with you that nobody else has."

"Aw, that's lovely. Poetic, even."

"Oh, shut up."

Amy had been expecting a far more joyous reaction to the interior of the TARDIS, but then again, she had envisaged her friend being fully conscious during her first exposure to it. This would have to do.

The two women laughed to themselves, neither of them having noticed that Jack had slipped away and headed underneath the console to speak to the Doctor whilst they had been distracted. He had known that they had catching up to do, and he had more important things to think about. He needed to know why he was on the ship in the first place.

* * *

><p>"Doctor."<p>

The Doctor nearly dropped his screwdriver at the sound of Jack's voice behind him. He pried his goggles away from his eyes and turned around to face the man, noticing that he was not smiling as he had expected him to be.

"Sorry, sorry, you startled me a bit there. What can I do for you?"

"You know exactly what you can do for me. Why am I here?" Jack asked, crossing his arms. "I'm a living temporal anomaly, remember? You don't want me on this ship. Why am I here?"

The Doctor sighed heavily before peering up through the glass ceiling, then looking down again. He then looked side to side as though checking for something - or someone - and then began to speak.

"Of course I want you here, Jack. You're my mate. But you're right, I do need you for something in particular. Something's going on with Amy. With me, as well. She keeps seeing things, and sometimes I catch her just staring off into the distance, looking like she's scared of something. The second she turns back, she's fine. Whatever it is that's scaring her, I've never seen it. And worst of all, I think whatever it is might be following us."

Jack narrowed his eyes. "How so?"

"Amy and I ended up in this sort of… tourist agency, I guess you could say. It had a little museum in it with artefacts from my past, Jack. Rubble from Pompeii, a wall panel from Big Brother in 200,100, all sorts of things. These aren't even any old artefacts, either. They're exact," he said strongly, one hand balling into a fist. "They came straight from the exact dates and times I visited. The fact is, I don't know how they got there, and that's too big of a coincidence to ignore any longer. I can run all I want, but I won't want Amy caught up in this. I'd take her home to keep her safe, but-"

"But she'd never go without a fight," Jack finished. "Of course she wouldn't. What do you want me to do?"

"Help me get somewhere with this. We need to work out what this is and how we can stop it. Whatever it is, I don't want it touching another hair on her head. I don't care what it takes."

"She really means that much to you, huh?"

The Doctor did not reply to this, choosing instead to keep silent and resume his work after several seconds of staring straight back at Jack.

"Go to the library. I'll meet you up there in a minute. I've just got a bit more wiring to finish f- argh!"

He pulled his hand away from the exposed wires and shook it vigorously, his eyes shooting daggers at the place where his palm had been resting. Jack simply shook his head and went back up to the console, aware that the Doctor's eyes would be on him to ensure Amy and Daisy did not follow. He was correct - the Doctor peered through the glass and watched as Jack went past the two women, stopping only at the sound of Amy hollering at him.

"Where you off to, Captain?"

Jack turned to face her and quickly answered, "Oh, nowhere," he said with a casual laugh. "Just seeing if I can find my old room. I bet a lot of dust has found its way onto everything after all these years."

Amy winked at him. "Don't go too far."

"Are you flirting with me, Miss Pond?"

"I might be."

"I think y-"

Their conversation was cut off by Daisy, who had decided that the time was right to make a very loud gagging sound and mime throwing up. The Doctor had to suppress his laughter in his shirtsleeve at the look of annoyance on Amy's face, but remembered that he had to find an excuse to sneak upstairs as well after finishing his repairs, and quickly set back to work.

He was extremely grateful when Amy and Daisy went off to the kitchen to continue their conversation over tea. Quickly jamming the dangling wires back into the machinery and slamming the panel back on to hide the evidence, the Doctor jumped up, discarded his goggles and tools and rushed up the stairs, anxious to get away before the two women would come back and discover him.

"Now where are _you_ skulking off to?" he heard Amy ask from the other side of the room. She had evidently returned from her trip to the kitchen with Daisy quicker than he had anticipated. _I should never have installed that damn fast-boiling kettle in the kitchen,_ he thought, annoyed.

"I wasn't skulking, Pond," he responded in a jittery voice, turning around slowly to meet her eyes, smile, then turning back again. "I just need to find… erm, something. I'll be back before you know it."

Amy and Daisy watched him run away without a word. Daisy's eyes narrowed, but Amy did not appear to have a reaction. Not on the outside, anyway. _Perhaps she's just used to that sort of thing,_ Daisy thought.

"He's a bloody awful liar," Amy said loudly, hoping the Doctor was still within earshot.

"I think they're both up to something."

Amy nodded. "And I think you're right. Wanna follow them?"

There were two things Amy Pond did not appreciate: being repeatedly lied to, and having secrets kept from her that involved her. The Doctor, unfortunately, was often guilty of both, and no matter how many times Amy tried to rectify the problem, he would occasionally slip up and forget that she needed to be included in his plans and ideas.

_Well, sneaking up on him just to stick it to him is one way of getting the job done, I guess._

* * *

><p>The library that Jack Harkness remembered from his time in the TARDIS was very different from the one that he found now. It was far larger and was also far messier, with stacks of volumes littering the area around bookcases and squashy armchairs. There also happened to be a swimming pool over to the far right, nearly out of his line of vision, and a large empty space in the centre of the room. <em>Yes<em>, he concluded in his mind, _the Doctor is far stranger now than he used to be._

After several minutes, the Doctor joined Jack in the library, looking tense. Before he could ask him what was the matter with him, he simply said, "I think she knows," and went over to the empty space in the middle of the room.

"How good are you with computers?" the Doctor asked quizzically.

Jack considered this for a moment. "Pretty good, I'd say."

"That's good, because I don't know what to do with this thing. I'd take the old approach of pressing buttons and hoping, but there aren't a whole lot of buttons to press. That, and I don't think it likes me very much. It shuts off when I try to touch it now."

The Doctor reached towards the armchair closest to him and pressed at the carved knot in the wood of the arm. The sound of pieces of metal sliding against each other sounded from somewhere below their feet, and to Jack's surprise, a tall, transparent glass computer system rose from the floor and came to rest in the large empty spot in the middle of the carpet.

"Very James Bond. I'm impressed," Jack said, nodding his head in approval.

"I honestly have no idea when it even showed up. I was in here one day and I tripped, hit the edge of the chair, and the next thing I know, there's this giant thing sprouting up out of the ground. The old girl might've just installed it herself recently, for all I know."

He laughed and went towards it. "Touch screen display?"

"Yep. Have a go at it, the silly thing won't let me anywhere near it." The Doctor said this with an injured tone to his voice, and looked rather offended as he spoke.

It hardly even took Jack a minute to figure out the controls of the machine, get a handle on the touch screen, and find his way around the massive database stored inside. He soon began to search through the seemingly limitless bank of information, looking for anything that could help them with their problem. The real trouble was that ancient records and images were in such primitive forms of their languages that the TARDIS' translation circuits were hardly much help at all. The research was still very possible, and Jack had been around long enough to get the gist of even the most puzzling of phrases.

"Do you still have that vortex manipulator?" the Doctor asked casually, trying to break the uneasy silence that was hanging over the two of them as Jack worked.

Jack paused to look down at his wrist, as though he had forgotten the device was even there. "Oh, yeah. Good thing, too. They're becoming harder and harder to come by these days. Usually you can find one or two on a black market somewhere, but even have stopped cropping up recently."

"The Time Agents have finally got a hold on that?"

Jack snorted. "There really aren't many Time Agents left, actually. They keep turning up dead, but without the vortex manipulators. I've heard that hundreds of them are gone, so I'd guess that there are hundreds of missing manipulators. I guess the criminal classes have started to fight back after all these years."

The Doctor thought about what Jack said for a moment. _Hundreds of missing manipulators… that would explain why the Milky Way Travel Agency had acquired so many_. But it didn't explain what had done the Time Agents in. _Perhaps it fits in with those bosses nobody knew anything about._

"I don't think it's the criminal classes we have to worry about," the Doctor muttered under his breath. "Anyway, can you get very much out of this thing?"

"Yeah, just give me a while longer, I think I can get a good amount of stuff."

As Jack continued to probe deep into billions and billions of years worth of information and history, the Doctor had to find something to occupy his time with. One thing he had learnt the hard way about this newest regeneration was that this version of himself was impossibly impatient. This had, unfortunately for him, become a touchy subject with Amy and himself, as both were very aware of and infuriated by his impatience. Even being in a library with every book ever printed tucked away was could not satiate his childlike need for movement and adventure, but he attempted to calm himself anyway.

He strolled along aisle after aisle of books, peering interestedly at the spines of each. It soon became clear to him that he couldn't even recall buying half of these books, and there were several he had never even heard of at all. How long had it been since he'd done a complete clean-out of the place? He immediately pushed that thought away. Cleaning was not - and very likely never would be - on his agenda.

"I've got it," Jack said.

The Doctor looked over Jack's shoulder at the images on the screen and instantly felt his stomach drop. _That_ was what Amy had been seeing? _Perhaps she would be safer at home after all_, he thought.

The Doctor saw a human-like creature, significantly taller than humans but wearing a human suit. It had three fingers and looked starved and half-dead, with a sunken face and eyes so deepset they were no longer visible.

"What are they?" he whispered.

"They don't have a name," Jack responded. "Nobody's given them one. Maybe nobody's been able to. They have a long history, though - they go right back to the dawn of time. There's no record of where they came from, but they've always been here. They seem to usually keep hidden, but it looks like they've finally come out to play."

"Is there anything on them?"

"Barely. There are a few old legends of what people called 'tall men in suits', but there aren't a lot of them. There's some interesting stuff, though. See, look at this. People talk about the same things you talked about before - staring off at something nobody else is seeing, looking scared, and then having no memory of it at all. It turns out that you can remember them as long as you're looking at them, but forget them the second you look away. This has got to be it."

"They're quiet through all of history. Too quiet. They're definitely doing something," the Doctor pointed out in a quiet voice, tapping his fingers against his chin as he spoke. "Nothing goes through all of space and time and leaves only a faint trail behind. Nothing is _that_ silent. It doesn't make _sense_."

"Hey, there's an idea. We'll call them the Silence. It's better than nothing, eh?" Jack said.

"I'm just glad we know something," the Doctor told him with a sigh, running a hand through his mop of a fringe. "At least we'll have something to tell Amy-"

"And when were you going to tell me that you were having someone come over just so you could figure out what's wrong with me?"

Both the Doctor and Jack very nearly jumped out of their skin at Amy's sudden entrance into the library. She stood with her arms crossed over her chest, her eyes narrowed in a deadly glare directed towards the two of them. Daisy stood behind her, looking awestruck at the sheer scale of the room she had just entered. The library was far larger than the console room, and probably wasn't helping her mind become any less jumbled, the Doctor thought.

"Amy! Oh, sorry, we weren't- I mean, we were just- that's not what we were doing!"

Realising that they would be there for days if they waited for the Doctor to form a coherent sentence after being startled by Amy, Jack stepped in and answered for him.

"That's not why I'm here, Amy."

"Oh, isn't it?"

"_No_, it's not," he repeated. "There's nothing wrong with you, Amy. There's something very wrong with the universe at the moment and _that's_ why I'm here. We needed to figure out what's disturbing everything. This is messing with your timeline and the Doctor's timeline, and whatever its intentions, they can't be good."

Amy's gaze softened. "Have you worked out what it is?"

"Is it little green men?" Daisy asked quickly, causing all eyes to turn to her. "I mean, that's what you always see in films, isn't it? Little green men are the ones ruining everything and trying to invade. Is that it?"

The Doctor smiled warmly at her. "No, probably not, though those _do_ exist! Amy, have I ever told you about the time I w-"

"As much as I do love to hear you prattle on about something, Doctor, we've got some explaining to do with Amy. I'll let you do it. I really find it relaxing watching a pair of lovebirds try to be coherent around each other."

Both the Doctor and Amy were almost immediately shooting daggers at Jack with their eyes, and Daisy leant close to his ear and whispered about how she was sure that those looks would kill him. He nearly laughed at the irony of it, but remembered that Daisy had no idea about his immortality, and decided to keep it to himself.

The Doctor explained to Amy what Jack had uncovered so far, and Daisy listened to him as well, extremely attentive. There seemed to have been several things she had missed out on - many adventures, and, as it turned out, Amy was seeing things that weren't there. Having never heard any of this before, the information became almost too much to handle, and Daisy stood there with her mouth slightly agape, totally shocked. She felt as though this was becoming a common occurrence.

"Can I see them? The Silence, I mean." Amy asked Jack. "I want to know for sure."

She moved away from the Doctor and Daisy towards the computer screen at which Jack was standing. After several clicks of a button, Jack stepped aside to clear the way for her, and let Amy pass. Her eyes flickered to the screen and a tiny gasp escaped her mouth at the sight of the crude, ancient drawings of the Silence he had uncovered. The three others in the room became immediately aware that this had struck a chord with her.

"That's them," she choked out in a weak voice. "That's them. I-I know now, I remember them-"

"That's because you remember them when you're looking right at them, and forget as soon as you look away. These are drawings, not the real thing, so you can remember everything through these," the Doctor told her.

"I-I can kind of remember things," Amy said, her voice beginning to tremble. "There was one at Doctor Kahn's house, after the Angels-"

"It's okay," he said gently, reaching out to stroke her hair, hoping to soothe her nerves. "It's alright, don't worry about remembering everything right now. You're going to be fine, Amy."

She nodded stiffly, and the Doctor pulled her in for a hug. Jack stared at them, still shocked at how openly affectionate this new version of the Doctor was, whilst Daisy rolled her eyes and considered everything that was happening.

She certainly hadn't expected to be dragged into such a mess on Christmas in the middle of the night, so she was still sporting a fairly incredulous look on her face, and felt as though she would be for quite some time. However, she didn't think that her shock at this completely different world should inhibit her intelligence in any way, so she began to think on what they had all learnt about these creatures.

She cocked her head slightly to the side and broke the silence by asking Jack another question. "Are they really that old, though? I mean, the Doctor told Amy that they've been around through all of space and time. Have they?"

To answer her question, Jack showed her photographs of cave drawings from millions of years ago, depicting a horrifyingly tall man in a suit, looking emaciated and deathly ill, but terrifying and evil at the same time.

"Weird."

"It _is_ weird, though. In old legends of these things, select people from villages remember them, and others claim to have never seen them at all, and to be unable to remember any events that included them. How can some remember perfectly, and others forget everything?" Jack asked quietly, speaking to nobody in particular.

Everyone in the room was completely silent for a brief moment as they considered the facts, trying to conjure up some sort of idea as to how this was at all possible.

"Well… maybe it's a prolonged exposure sort of thing," Daisy offered, tapping her fingers against her mug as she spoke. "If you just see them - a lot of them, I guess - for a few seconds, you forget that event. But if they sort of… I don't know, invade your line of vision, or your head, or whatever, then they can do more damage than that."

"Then how could some people remember them perfectly?" Amy asked. "We have the records, after all. Someone had to write them out."

"Same thing, I guess. You don't have to have to have a lot of them near you or be exposed to them for a longer amount of time, but if you can keep record of each event and remember that the record exists, you can keep adding on to it when you learn something new. You might forget the Silence initially, but re-reading the records brings everything back, and then it sticks. Those other people couldn't be bothered to read records for things they didn't believe existed in the first place, I guess."

"That's… that's brilliant!" the Doctor exclaimed, rushing over to clap his hands on Daisy's shoulders and give her a brief hug. "Oh, Daisy, you are brilliant!"

"So it hasn't done any damage yet?" Amy asked. She could feel hope beginning to grow in her chest, overriding all of the worry that had been growing inside of her like a weed lately. "They haven't wiped all of the memories of them out of my mind, so that's good, yeah?"

"Well, I'd say you're alright," the Doctor told her. "You can remember everything about me and everywhere we've gone perfectly, and you remember your childhood well enough. You've still got that Scottish accent even after living in England, you remember your family perfectly well, you remember your house, your school, you remember that doll-"

Amy cut in before the Doctor could finish his thought. "What doll?"

The Doctor immediately froze in his place and turned very slowly on the spot to look at her. Amy found this to be rather alarming and fixed her eyes on him, waiting for his reaction.

"What do you mean, _what doll_? The doll I gave you when you were a little girl, Amy. After we fought, I went back and gave it to you when you were a little girl. Red hair, blue dress. Remember?"

She gave a shaky laugh and shrugged. "No, sorry."

"Amy, this isn't funny. This isn't a joke."

"I'm being serious, Doctor, I don't know what you're talking about," she insisted. Despite how strong she wanted to appear, she could feel her hands beginning to shake. _I'm forgetting. Oh god, I'm forgetting._

The Doctor was now staring into Amy's eyes with such fear that she half wanted to say that she remembered it just to help him calm down, but she couldn't bring herself to. She'd never even _had_ a doll with red hair and a blue dress. Her thoughts must have been very apparent on her face, because the Doctor's eyes seemed to fill with even more horror with each passing second.

"Amy, tell me you remember the doll," he said to her in a final, desperate whisper.

She gave a very tiny and frightened shake of her head. "I don't remember a doll," she said finally, before biting her lip in worry.

Jack and Daisy, along with Amy, stared anxiously at the Doctor. He opened his mouth again slightly as though he wanted to speak, but words failed him. He knew for a fact he'd given her that doll. He could tell her exactly what she was wearing that day, exactly what her home had looked like, and even what her younger self had been doing when he'd given her the gift. Hell, he'd even brought the whole thing up to Amy once he'd come back, and she'd admitted to remembering it. The entire memory was completely gone - erased, as though it had never happened at all.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Hello again!**

**Gracious, I feel terrible for not having updated since August. It was rather stupid of me, but I didn't think that my last year of high school would be this time-consuming, nor did I consider the fact that I spend the majority of my time on a computer on Tumblr. However, here I am, back to keep this going!**

**I feel rather bad about leaving this for so long, though. I've actually had messages from people wondering if I've abandoned everything entirely - don't worry, I certainly haven't! It's just rather hard to write out such long chapters now - I don't have the time to just sit and write like I used to, so everything is written in snippets on scraps of lined paper in the middle of class, and then stitched together into a proper chapter later on. I even had to rewrite this chapter several times, because nothing was turning out properly. I've spent all night trying to rewrite, actually, and I've neglected my homework. Oops.**

**Anyway, it's time for me to stop rambling on, haha. I hope you all enjoy this chapter, and don't forget to leave a review! (And if the feeling ever strikes you, feel free to message me and tell me to get going if I take more than a week and a half to update again, haha)**

**Thank you for sticking with me! :) x**


	24. Chapter 24

The days that followed were rather subdued, quiet ones. The revelation that there was something terribly wrong going on in Amy's life came as a shock to everyone aboard the TARDIS, and no one seemed to be in a particularly chatty mood for many days afterwards. The Doctor holed himself up in the library and pored over stacks of volumes that spanned from all across time, some records so fragile that they could hardly be touched, some so futuristic that neither Amy nor Daisy could imagine them coming into existence during their lifetimes. A series of holographic tomes on the legends of the early years of the universe took the Doctor two days to get through, even with the very minimal amount of time that he needed for sleeping. This entire process exhausted him, and afterwards, both Daisy and Jack strolled past the open doors of the library to find him slumped over in a chair, looking half-dead and in a deep sleep.

Daisy spent her time strolling around the TARDIS and exploring the rooms that she was sure were infinite in number. Sometimes she took it upon herself to find her way around, and occasionally Jack would show her around. She imagined that the machine liked her, due to the fact that whenever she got herself terribly lost and became somewhat frightened, she would immediately find that a familiar doorway had appeared directly ahead of her. Jack divided his time between the same pursuits as Daisy and aiding the Doctor in his search for an understanding of what they were up against. Sometimes, however, he would disappear for hours at a time and would not give her an explanation as to why.

Amy was a different story altogether.

She locked herself in her bedroom, refusing to let anyone in and never exiting when anyone was around to see her do so. There was too much on her mind for her to deal with as it was, let alone the thoughts and concerns of other people. After four days of this, Daisy decided that she had had enough.

Counting on the TARDIS' care for her, Daisy made her way down the endless corridors in the hopes of coming across either Amy or the door to her bedroom. She found herself drawn to an inconspicuous door with an aged brass handle, and after taking a deep breath and rapping her knuckles against the wood, she let herself in before Amy could deny her entry. She heard a sarcastic mutter of "Come right in" as she turned to shut the door behind her.

Amy was sitting cross-legged on top of her sheets, hunched over her work with long tresses of red hiding her face. She did not look up as her friend entered the room.

Amy Pond's bedroom in the TARDIS was roughly the size of her entire flat back in London, from what Daisy could remember. There was a grand four-poster bed with lovely, soft-looking sheets of TARDIS blue and sheer white hangings. There was a group of lush potted plants, an array of framed photographs littering the top of her dresser, a large window that was several feet long and displayed a peaceful blue morning sky (Daisy assumed this window changed appearance depending on the time of day), and a ceiling covered in markings of constellations. There was a large rug on the floor woven with dozens of rich colours, two bookshelves crammed to bursting with thick, heavily-read tomes and a stack of filled-in notebooks on a side table near the window. The furniture all around her room was ornately carved and beautiful, each with a different swirling design that reminded Daisy of the night sky.

None of these wonders, however, could compare to the beauty of Amy's bedroom walls.

Daisy raised her head to get a better look at them. Graphite sketches lined the space above her bedframe, each one soft and fluid and on a different colour of paper, just as she remembered her friend's style being. It had been a long time, however – there had been a time where Amy would doodle across the margins of every scrap of paper that came her way. At times, Daisy would even find very faint remnants of accidental sketches on manuscript pages.

"I haven't seen any of your stuff in ages. You don't really doodle on things much anymore," she murmured.

Amy shrugged nonchalantly. "Didn't really have the drive until recently."

"Oh? What triggered this, then?" she asked, gesturing to the shrine-like quality of her walls. "It looks like your drive was kind of… explosive."

"Everything triggered it, I guess. Some of the stuff out there is really beautiful, Dais." Amy said these words without stopping her writing and without fully paying attention, an indicator to Daisy of their complete truth.

Daisy looked back at the sketches. "I can see that. Did you make all of these up, or are they real places? They're lovely."

Her eyes trailed over scenes of worlds that she was sure were beyond their own – there was a cathedral that looked as though it were made of glass ("Crystal," Amy corrected her), a forest with a tall oak in its centre whose bark was covered entirely in intricate blooms ("They're orange and fuchsia!"), a cascading waterfall with a house with a sloped roof stood in the middle of it ("They have sailboat races during their summers!"), and pages of sketches of slim, birdlike creatures with multiple wings, and robots with domes plastered down their sides and plunger-like objects protruding from them, none of which Amy bothered to explain.

Daisy eyed the drawings of the robots carefully. "Amy, are these-?"

"Daleks, yeah. Just had the one encounter with them, thankfully. It wasn't something I'd repeat."

She then noticed a smaller drawing in amongst the extravagant ones, one so full of detail that she was sure it meant a great deal to her. It took her a brief moment, but she realized it was a sketch of the coffee shop not too far from their office building, the one hidden down a little alleyway. She had a fleeting recollection of Amy once telling her that she had met the Doctor in that very place.

Finally tearing her eyes away from the walls, Daisy brought her sights down to her friend's place on her bed. Amy did not seem to have moved an inch since Daisy had entered her room, apart from her slender hand, which moved rapidly across the pages of a spiral-bound notebook.

"What're you writing?" she asked, sitting herself on the edge of the bed.

"Everything. I remember what you figured out about the Silence – about how the only way you can really remember them is if you keep a record, remember? I snuck into the library and took a photo of those photos on the screens –"

This caught Daisy's interest. "How? The Doctor's locked himself in."

"'Cause I nicked his spare key ages back. He _thinks_ he left it somewhere and that the TARDIS is just hiding it from him. Don't tell him. Anyway, I saved the photos onto my phone and every once in a while, I look at the photo and write down whatever the photo triggers."

"Anything new?"

Amy nodded very slightly. "Yeah. A lot of times where I felt like something was lurking off in the dark make much more sense now. I'm trying to write down as much as I can about the other things we've done and the places we've been too. You know, just in case."

Daisy hummed in response and watched her friend's frantic scribbling in silence for a moment before she spoke again.

"That's not the only reason you're up here, is it?"

For the first time since Daisy had entered the bedroom, Amy froze in her place and slowly looked up at her friend, her eyes wary.

"Meaning…?"

She sighed. "Meaning that I know you're frightened and don't want to admit it, and probably a little cross with the Doctor, too."

Amy hesitated and blinked a few times before responding. "Of course I'm cross with the Doctor. He never tells me a damn thing, and no matter how many times I tell him to cut it the hell out, he keeps doing it because he thinks that's how you protect people."

"What, by keeping them in the dark?"

"Yeah. All it does is leave _me_ unprepared and feeling even worse off. God, I could strangle him with his stupid bowtie," Amy muttered, one of her hands balled into a tight fist.

Daisy ignored this. "You know why he does it, of course?"

Amy shifted her shoulders. "Yeah. Doesn't mean I can't still hate him for doing it."

"Well, then, maybe you should talk to him."

"I've _tried_ that."

"Yeah, well, do it again. Make some banners. Put up a flashing sign. Do what you need to do," Daisy insisted. "You're the most aggressively passionate person I know. You _never_ take things lying down. Don't let this be the exception. This is _about_ you and you have every right to make him open his mouth and tell you everything."

Amy sighed loudly and hauled herself off of her bed, notebook in hand. She went to the small table by her window, the one on which she had already placed a stack of notebooks beforehand, and put her most recent one on top.

"I'll come downstairs in a minute," she murmured, her eyes fixed on the stack.

Feeling decidedly proud of herself for being the one to coax her friend out of hiding, Daisy stood up, watched Amy for a moment, and then left her bedroom. Amy did not look up as she left – her eyes continued to lock onto the notebooks with a glint in them that Daisy had failed to notice.

* * *

><p>To everyone's great surprise that morning, the Doctor had finally surfaced from his hideout in the library, still looking as awful as Daisy and Jack had remembered seeing him. His shirt was heavily rumpled – it was quite clear that he had slept in it – and his hair was flat on one side, as though he had fallen asleep slumped over a desk, out cold for a long period of time.<p>

Daisy made her way to the console room after leaving Amy's bedroom and found him at the console, casually pressing buttons and taking long looks at monitors. His was back was turned to her and despite the fact that she had found him to have excellent hearing, he did not turn at the sound of her footsteps.

"Morning," she called out to him, taking slow steps so as to not disturb him. "Haven't seen you around in a while."

He hummed. "There's a lot going on. I think I'm finally getting somewhere with this."

"Oh?"

"I've sent Jack out to do some investigating. He'll be in any moment now. Where's Amy?"

"Her room. She's been there for days, Doctor. She's left it just about as often as you've left the library. Anyway, what is it that Jack's investigating?"

Before the Doctor could answer her, the TARDIS doors burst open and Jack hurried in, slamming the doors behind him. Even from far away, the Doctor and Daisy both noticed the dark look on his face.

"What's wrong?" the Doctor asked quickly, leaning over the railing closest to the doors.

"They're dead. All of them."

"_What?_"

"I went out, trying to track everyone down, but they're gone. _All_ of them died under mysterious circumstances. Some disappeared without a trace and were simply declared dead. All of their vortex manipulators disappeared as well, even on the ones whose bodies were found."

The Doctor let out a moan and sank into the nearest jumpseat, his face pained. Jack rushed to the console, his boots skidding across the glass floor, and stood next to the Doctor. Daisy did not yet dare to interrupt their exchange with a question as to what either of them were talking about – from what she could see and from what little she could understand at that moment, this was a turning point in their search for what was after the Doctor and Amy.

"It's them, isn't it?" the Doctor mumbled, his voice muffled by the hand he had pressed against his mouth. "It's them. It's only going to get worse."

Jack could only nod, his eyes looking blankly forward as he did so. "I think so."

There was a pause in their conversation as both of them could not think of a single word to say to lighten the heavy tone that had befallen the room. Daisy, however, after confirming her sneaking suspicion that this was about the creatures that were after Amy, could no longer hold back.

"You need to tell her," she told them sternly.

Jack and the Doctor both turned to look at her at once, both startled at her abruptness.

"Tell Amy," Daisy continued. "This is about her, and this is something she needs to know."

The woman in question, as it so happened, chose that very moment to barge down the stairs, her hammering footsteps indicating to Daisy that she had only poured gasoline over the fire that had been slowly burning in Amy for several days. She appeared deeply annoyed and came down the stairs staring straight at him, making as much noise as she could to keep his attention on her and her alone.

"Under the console. _Now_," she snapped, an icy tone in her voice. She made her way down the steps without even the slightest amount of hesitation and did not look back at him.

The Doctor looked towards Daisy for some sort of explanation for Amy's sudden change in behaviour, but she seemed to very suddenly find everything else in the room apart from him extremely interesting. She was completely and utterly concerned with not letting her expression give anything away. Jack shrugged at him when Daisy did not meet his eyes, clearly just as confused as the Doctor.

The Doctor trudged after Amy and found her sitting in his swing waiting for him, a dark expression on her face that was enhanced by the odd shadows thrown by the technology around them.

"Getting anywhere?" she asked simply. Her voice was far too calm for his liking.

He understood immediately without her having to elaborate. He sighed. "Yes. I sent Jack out to do a bit more digging about those vortex manipulators, and-"

"And the Time Agents are _all _dead?"

The Doctor was startled, and he was sure that his face showed it. "How did you know that?"

She shrugged, her hair falling away from her shoulders. "It isn't hard to work out. They're going missing one-by-one, some are turning up dead, and each one's vortex manipulator disappears, yeah? Someone clearly wants them and doesn't seem to care how much attention they attract in the process. Mass murder feels like the next step in that direction."

"It's going to be even harder now to track these things. Do you know how hard it is tracking something that doesn't want to be found across all of time and space? It's like finding transparent needles in a never-ending haystack," he told her, his eyes growing wider and his expression becoming more and more frantic as he spoke. "Transparent, murderous needles. That's a terrible comparison, I'm sorry."

Amy ignored his ramblings. "Well, I know what it's like being _stalked_ by something that doesn't want to be found."

She knew this was something he could not deny, and found that the Doctor looked visibly uncomfortable that she had pointed it out. He cleared his throat loudly as though this would in some way relieve the tension. "I wanted to talk to you about that, actually. You really aren't safe here anymore."

"Thanks for pointing out the obvious."

"I mean it. I can't guarantee your safety anymore."

A horrible realisation was beginning to dawn on Amy. "Hang out, what are you saying? Tell me that's not why you're down here instead of in the library. Tell me you're not-"

"Listen to me, Amy. You'd be safer at home," he reasoned.

"My god, you _were_. You weren't only down here for Jack, you were down here to get ready to take me home. Oh my _god_. How would I be safer at home? If you're being stalked, you're never going to be safe in your own home. How the _hell_ would refusing to tell me your plan and detaching me from everyone and everything help me?"

The Doctor's gaze seemed to harden. "Because there would be a smaller chance of you _dying_ in the process, Amelia," he said, and after swallowing thickly, he continued. "If I'm being completely honest, I don't know what's coming. I don't know for sure what's going on. We're going into this completely blind, and... and I don't want to ever have to be standing over your grave."

Amy used his pregnant pause to reach out for him, her long fingers lacing with his. "You won't have to," she told him, giving his hand a light squeeze.

"Please don't put me in this situation."

"No, listen, it won't happen. I'm not going to be the damsel in distress and run off home to mummy and daddy because something big and scary wants me. If they want me, I'm fighting back and I'm not having everyone else risking their necks fighting my battles for me. I'm not going home. I know it's the total opposite of what you want, but frankly, when it comes to making decisions that would be good for me, you've always been a bit stupid. Besides, you could do with one more person on your side. I have a feeling we're a tad outnumbered."

The Doctor looked down at his boots. "There really isn't a chance of me changing your mind at all, is there?" he asked, his voice suddenly quiet. Stunned by his acceptance of her stubbornness, Amy felt her anger with him begin to abate.

Amy shook her head slowly. "I know you're worried about me, but don't be. I can hold my own. You know that. I always have done."

He smiled and leaned in to place a gentle kiss on Amy's forehead. "'Course you can, you magnificent girl," the Doctor replied, brushing a few locks of her hair aside.

"This'll be our truce, then. You'll stop being ridiculous, and I'll… I dunno, be careful?" she offered, unsure.

Amy was sure that her heartfelt promise to tread lightly in what they all knew to be uncharted territory would pacify the Doctor for the time being. Deep down inside of her, she imagined this agreement to be for her own sake as well – she was going to have to learn to quell her own uneasiness before they proceeded any further.

The Doctor squeezed her hand back. "I'll do my best. Cross my hearts."

Amelia Pond was fully aware that one of the Doctor's weak points was his inability to deny her of just about anything. Though she occasionally felt guilty about it, she used this to her advantage during times when it was necessary – this, she felt, was one of those times. Daisy's words echoed in her head: "_You know why he does it._"

With a smirk on his face, the Doctor winked at her, released her hand and turned to make his way back up to the console.

"Oi!"

He turned his head at the sound of Amy's voice. "What?"

"I'm calling a group meeting in the console room in an hour. But change first, would you? Your old man jacket is starting to smell funny."

The Doctor blinked, taken aback. "I take offense to that," he said indignantly.

"You should," Amy said, grinning. "Now get upstairs before I take the stupid thing from you and hide it."

* * *

><p>The Doctor, Amy, Daisy and Jack regrouped in front of the console an hour later, this time with the Doctor looking considerably more like his normal self – apart, Amy noticed, from the deep exhaustion that was still present in his eyes. She also found that while his frantic, never-stopping personality was back in full-force, there was a definite dark undertone to it.<p>

"Right," he started, clapping his hands together, "so what do we know so far?"

"There are aliens following us that make us forget when we see them," Amy offered.

"And they're erasing portions of your memories," Daisy added.

"And killing Time Agents to get vortex manipulators."

The Doctor nodded. "So from that, we can assume that that's how they're managing to time travel and erase Amy's memories. I think they're definitely connected to that little museum Amy and I ran into at the Milky Way Travel Agency. They had all of those artefacts from places I'd been, at the _exact_ times that I'd been there."

"So they're creating some sort of timeline?" Jack asked. "They're tracing the path you've taken across the universe and are making sure to be there at each event. And it's not just the path this _new_ you has taken, is it?"

"No. There were things there from places younger versions of me had visited as well."

Amy nodded, beginning to see what was happening. "So they've been tracking you down for a long time, but have sort of… I dunno, increased their effort with me around? Why?"

The four of them went silent for a moment, each racking their brains for even a vague guess that they could work off of. Surprising even herself, Daisy had a theory that came to her almost immediately.

"Weakness."

At this, the Doctor and Amy's eyebrows furrowed at the same time, but it was instead Jack who replied. "What?"

"Those Silence things know how much the Doctor cares about Amy. If they've been watching him for so long, they know his personality, and they… they know what this is doing to him."

A look of pure disgust and horror covered Amy's face, and she felt her stomach plummeting. "They're _using_ me?"

The Doctor nodded slowly and whispered, "Just to get to me."

Amy felt such a great rush of emotions at once that it was a marvel she did not explode. The fear and horror in her heart increased tenfold, and that familiar flame-like rage began to burn inside of her again. She felt her anger so strongly that she found it difficult to breathe, almost as though it was suffocating her.

"That's it," she growled, "I've had it. We're finding them _now_."

"We can't, Amy. We don't know what we're going into yet," Jack reminded her. "Rushing into this would be walking straight into a trap. If they're using you to get to him, or whatever it is they're doing, having you run straight to them with no foreknowledge or preparation or _anything_ would be like a dream for them."

Her eyes murderous, Amy threw herself down in the nearest jumpseat and crossed her arms over her chest. "Well, then, _Captain_, what do you propose I do?" she asked, her voice cold.

The Doctor sighed and moved to a series of levers on the console, each of which me moved speedily before settling over a monitor, watching it closely.

"We've got one more line of investigation to finish up with before any one of us does anything else. And there's no use disagreeing with me," he added as Amy opened her mouth to cut him off, "because this is something we need to do."

"What is it?" Daisy queried.

"Well, we've established that at the very least, the Daleks and the Weeping Angels both likely have some sort of hand in this, but I'm curious about the Cybermen."

"The what?"

"Cybermen," Amy said, thinking to herself. "I remember them. They were all over the world a while ago, weren't they? I was in Leadworth then, but I remember seeing them on television."

The Doctor nodded. "I hate to do it, honestly, I do. But they've been quiet, and Cybermen never stay quiet for long. Plenty of lifeforms out there are somehow linked to this, but I've yet to find the link with the Cybermen. There's got to be one."

"And besides," Jack added, "even if for some reason there _isn't_ one, it's at least worth tracking them down to make sure they _aren't_ behind anything else. A quiet Cyberman is never a good Cyberman."

"And have you been tracking them down already?" Daisy asked.

Jack nodded. "Yeah. While I've been off looking for Time Agents, he's been off looking for Cybermen."

"I think our next stop is Colchester. There's been some really strange activity at a department store there – I think a ship may have crashed on the site a really long time ago. I think it's just been dormant for a little while. They've been biding their time, hence why everything's been quiet with them," The Doctor informed them.

"Back to England. Goody," Amy muttered.

The Doctor, who was then typing rapidly, his fingers almost blurring over the typewriter keyboard built into the console, chose to ignore Amy's sarcasm and instead continued plotting their course back to Earth, all the while looking very preoccupied. Amy stayed seated in the jumpseat, still glaring at him as he pulled down on a particularly large lever.

Jack, on the other hand, moved close to a railing and held on with both hands, something which Daisy raised an eyebrow at.

"You might want to hold on," Jack told her before she even had a chance to open her mouth.

The time rotor began to rise and fall as the engines began to whirr, and before Daisy could even get a firm grip anywhere, the entire console room jolted sharply and without warning. Amy toppled over onto the glass, the Doctor's legs almost completely gave out from under him, Jack's feet slid out and he slammed to the floor, and Daisy went falling backwards as the TARDIS faded from its place in deep space and flew back to England.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: No, your eyes do not deceive you - I'm back! I had a severe case of writer's block with this until about a month or so ago (yes, it has honestly lasted since November 2012), and until about Tuesday, I've simply been lazy. I am most _certainly_ back now, and I have learnt not to make promises as to when I'll update this thing. Hopefully I'll start uploading frequently again now that I have all of my ideas sorted out, but I won't make anything concrete.**

**BIG THANKS to everyone that stuck with this story and encouraged me to keep trying to write it (especially Spark and Regina, both of whom reminded me almost constantly), and thanks to all of those new readers that have reviewed during the hiatus and given me an even further boost. This probably isn't as long or as interesting as you had hoped for, but believe me, things are going to get _real_ very, very soon.**

**As always, reviews are greatly appreciated! :) x**


	25. Chapter 25

As it turned out, the Doctor had been correct in his theory about the Cybermen. Upon arriving in Colchester, they discovered that something was indeed amiss about the Sanderson & Grainger department store in the middle of town. They quickly decided that the best course of action would be to cut off the Cybermen at their source and destroy them - but not before getting a gauge of their involvement in what was happening to Amy.

The Doctor interviewed those in high staff positions under the guise of being a Health & Safety inspector. Knowing the Doctor and realising that this plan was likely to go horribly awry once the staff of the store had worked out that he neither knew what he was doing nor what he was talking about, Amy settled on pretending to simply be a shopper, a task for which she dragged Jack along. Daisy, much to Amy's surprise, volunteered herself to help the Doctor – she pretended to be a trainee inspector. To her glee, the TARDIS offered up a very smart collection of clothes to help her fit the part.

The Doctor and Daisy both found that the store manager and those with positions slightly under his were absolutely adamant that their store was in tip-top shape. The two quickly decided to split up for the time being – the Doctor would take care of the businessmen, and Daisy would question the salespeople.

She strolled out of the offices and across the sales floor. She could see Amy and Jack perusing racks of shoes out of the corner of her eye. Noticing her, they watched her closely for some sort of signal. She winked, gave them a thumbs up, and strolled towards the perfume department. Within minutes, Daisy had gotten enough of the salespeople to talk to her that she was able to learn that the electrics in the basement were bad – they always had been, but had somehow become worse over the past few months. It was more than a case of bad wiring, dodgy lightbulbs or eternally flickering lights – some would burst and burn out entirely. Sometimes all of the lights in the building would feel a little dimmer than they had the day before – almost as though something was draining them of their energy. Once or twice, their lights had gone out entirely, without warning and seemingly without cause.

Rejoining with Amy and Jack, the three of them ventured down into the basement, each having the distinct feeling that they were being watched. And in more ways than one, they were.

* * *

><p>There was a feeling of great excitement in the spider-like ship. They could sense what was about to happen. They could feel his imminent arrival, like hungry sharks smelling blood in the water.<p>

"He comes."

"Not at this moment. But it is not long now. He will find out about the girl. He will come running for her."

"The girl cries in her sleep, even now. She cries for her child and for-"

He sucked in a rattling breath and tapped his long fingers in a quick rhythm on the arm of his seat. "I am aware of whom she cries for. It is best for her that she ceases her screams in the night, that she conserves her breath. She will not have much more of it."

"Should-"

"You will do nothing for her. Show her no mercies. The more she suffers, the faster he will run. Go."

He received a nod in response before the servant slunk out of the room. Their moment, the one they had dreamt of for an eternity, was approaching.

The order was given to disable the cloaking on the ship, making it visible to the eye and detectable to the Doctor's radar systems aboard his TARDIS. All they had to do now was wait.

* * *

><p>"So, what exactly is your plan here?" the Doctor asked.<p>

The Doctor had met up with Daisy, Amy and Jack after hurriedly rushing from the store manager's office. As Amy had suspected, his lie had not been water-tight – he had had security called on him once it had been realised that the man who claimed to be a Health & Safety inspector had no idea when the store had last been inspected and had no other credentials apart from the identification card his psychic paper had provided him with.

Daisy lowered her voice. "Well, I asked around, and a lot of people are saying that the electrics in this building are shoddy, like someone is draining their power. They've also said that a few of their staff members have just up and left. In one day, and never back beyond that."

Amy narrowed her eyes at this. It sounded more like-

"They haven't left, they're dead," the Doctor bluntly interjected. "I'd heard about those disappearances before. I asked the manager about them, and apparently my asking that made _him_ ask if I'm even a Health & Safety inspector. I couldn't answer his questions-"

"How shocking," Jack muttered.

"You pipe down. Anyway, they haven't just popped down to the seaside for a holiday or anything. Those employees are dead. There's a Cyber ship under this building that's been lying dormant for a very, very long time, and it's waking up."

"What triggered it? And how d'you know it's a Cyber ship?" Amy asked.

The Doctor shrugged. "The first part - couldn't tell you. All I know is that it's awake and it's siphoning off the power to power the ship and the army. Those people were probably crudely assimilated. If they've had any total blackouts for a few minutes here and there, that's probably what did it. Conversion takes a lot of power. As for your second question, there's been heavy Cybermen activity in this area before. It wouldn't surprise me if a few stragglers were left behind."

"That's how we're going to stop them," Daisy cut in. "They need that power, so we have to use it against them. Lower the power in the basement as much as possible to lure them out of hiding, then send it right back to them in such a huge quantity that it blows their circuitry. Would that work?"

He gawped at her. Amy and Jack grinned.

"It's brilliant!" the Doctor cried out exuberantly. "But what if that surge isn't enough?"

Daisy ran a hand through her hair as she thought. "Hmm. Oh! Water!"

"We use the water as a conductor?" Jack asked.

"Yeah! Flood the basement – like, just past your ankles should do it, I'd say – then lure them out and fry them. They won't know what hit them."

"If water can take them down," Amy asked, "wouldn't they know to keep away from it?"

The Doctor shrugged. "If they're so low on power that they've needed to quietly siphon away at this building's power supply for so _ages_, then I'm willing to bet that they don't have enough power to operate a teleportation device yet. If they did, they'd be out of here. If they're trapped in the water, they're trapped in the water. They have to just deal with that and get out as quickly as possible. Oh, Daisy, you're amazing!"

He threw an arm around her shoulders and hugged her quickly before letting go and clapping his hands together. "Right. Let's get going!"

"And can we never come back in here again?" Jack asked. "I like you guys and all, but making our plan inside a tiny storage cupboard wasn't as fun as you thought it'd be, Doctor."

"Speak for yourself. I think it's quite cosy in here."

* * *

><p>The basement of the department store already felt strangely damp. More prevalent than the eternal dampness, however, was the feeling that you were being watched. It made the hairs on the back of Amy's neck stand on end just thinking about the fact that there were Cybermen down in that basement with them, simply hiding. They were only biding their time. And worst of all, none of them were quite sure where exactly they were.<p>

Careful to move as quickly and as quietly as possible so as to not alert the attention of the Cybermen, the group grabbed as many buckets as they could find and filled them in the tub-like sink just near the door inside the basement. After covering the drains in the floor with tape, they dumped their buckets.

"This is taking too long," Amy gasped after tossing a particularly heavy bucket to the ground. "Ugh, and my boots are bloody soaking. Can one of you numpties just turn the water on full blast and let it pour out on its own? We need to get the hell out of here. I'm not partial to basements."

The Doctor shook his head. "I don't think-"

He was interrupted by a shrill wailing sound in close proximity to him. Already on edge due to what was lurking nearby, he turned quickly, only to find Jack with a familiar but strange-looking gun raised, looking proudly down at where the faucet had been.

"What the hell is that thing?" Amy asked incredulously.

"Sonic blaster. I left it in the TARDIS ages back. You did a terrible job of hiding it, Doctor."

Just as Jack went off to see if he could find some more faucets to break, the Doctor went past them towards the staircase, muttering something under his breath that none of them could hear clearly. Amy imagined that it was better this way.

* * *

><p>Once enough water had filled the basement (in actuality, it had not stopped – one faucet had been so heavily damaged that they couldn't quite make the water turn off), the Doctor sent his friends upstairs with the promise that he'd be back momentarily. He breathed in deeply and went further into the basement than he had gone before, looking over his shoulder at every opportunity. He heard nothing until he turned around a corner – and came face-to-face with a Cyberman.<p>

"I was wondering when I'd find you."

"_You are an intruder._"

He scoffed. "Yeah, 'cos you're meant to be here. What's with all this secrecy, then? Why don't you want anyone knowing you're here? Are you ambushing someone?"

"_That is not information that will be divulged to you,_" the Cyberman replied.

Over the Cyberman's shoulder, the Doctor could see many more slowly advancing on them from the other end of the hallway – roughly fifteen or so, he'd wager.

"I've heard that there's an army being raised," he continued. "Would you happen to know anything about that? Anything you want to tell me?"

"_That is not-_"

"Yeah, yeah, you're not gonna tell me. You're ruthless, metal killing machines, why would you go out of your way to make someone's life easier? I've gotten the hint."

"_We are humans upgraded. We will upgrade the entirety of the human race and make them like us. We are superior._"

"Keep thinking that."

"_You will be upgraded._"

The Doctor smirked and looked the Cyberman in the face, unblinking and severe. "_I've been told that I'm not compatible. Go on. Scan me._"

The Cyberman went quiet and looked back at him. All the Doctor could hear was the distant rushing water and the movement of more than a dozen more Cybermen getting closer to him with each second.

And suddenly, all at once, the approaching Cybermen stopped dead in their tracks.

"_You are the Doctor,_" the nearest Cyberman informed him.

"That's right. Now that we're on the same page, I'm going to ask you again – is there anything you want to tell me?"

All sixteen cybermen replied to him at the same time in one loud, thundering voice that sent a chill right through his hearts. "_You will be deleted._"

The Doctor stared the Cyberman that had spoken dead in its empty black eye sockets, expecting a flash of blue electricity from its hand – but nothing came.

"Is that it?" he asked with a laugh. "Are you just threatening people now? No action to it? That's not like you. Where's that murderous determination?"

The Cybermen didn't even move.

"_The Doctor will be deleted,_" they repeated.

"You want to delete me? Go on! I'm not compatible enough to be assimilated, so do it! Delete me!" he shouted, pounding his chest. "Delete me!"

"_This is not according to the plan._"

"Sorry, what?"

"_The conversion of the humans of this planet is approaching. Your deletion is imminent._"

"So the Silence, the Daleks, the Angels – you're with them too? And don't act like you don't know what I'm talking about, because I know you're all saving me for something. You've all had ample opportunity to kill me and my friends, and you haven't even tried. What the hell are you all doing? Is that why you're down here, repowering your ship? You're preparing for some kind of war?"

"_That is not information that will be divulged to you_."

"Doctor!"

He could hear Jack's voice calling him from the steps behind him. Without breaking eye contact with the Cybermen, the Doctor took two steps backwards and yelled back to her.

"Yes?"

"Come up here!"

Walking slowly as to keep from stumbling and tripping into the water, the Doctor moved backwards up the stairs, still keeping his eyes forwards. As soon as his boots found a step that was not submerged, he made his move. He pulled his sonic screwdriver out from inside his jacket and pointed it at all exposed wiring nearby until sparks shot out. He pointed it again at some of the metal brackets keeping them lined up against the walls and pulled away once the screws fell away and dropped the wires into the water. Turning on his heel, he tore up the staircase and fled the basement.

As soon as he went bursting through the basement door, Jack quickly slammed it shut behind him, turned the lock and leaned all of his weight against it.

"What is it?" the Doctor asked, inhaling heavily.

"We've got everything set up and ready. We're blowing the Cybermen out of the water right now, Doctor. Back away from the door."

"Where are Daisy and Amy?"

With perfect timing, the pair appeared from behind him, looking somewhat grim. "We've just set up all of those warning signs from the caretaker's closet around here. Nobody's going to come down here for a while."

Jack nodded. "Excellent."

Daisy went over to where Jack stood against the door, while Amy cleared the short distance between her and the Doctor.

"I can't help feeling weird about this. They are _people_ in those suits. People that lived and breathed like I do."

He looked over at her with sad eyes. "They're not people anymore, Amy. The people in those suits are long gone. There's nothing we can do to get them to change their minds or stop them unless they are utterly destroyed. There's no bargaining with Cybermen. It never works. More people will die unless we do this."

Amy looked back at him and nodded, swallowing the huge lump in her throat.

"I keep justifying this by remembering that they're part of this. People have died because of them. People are still dying, too. And you're right. It's not going to stop."

Without saying anything, the Doctor slid his hand into hers. Her hand fit around his immediately.

"Are you sure everything is done?" he called over to Jack.

He nodded. "There's enough water down there, and we tore at as many wires as we could find. It might take out the power in the whole store, but if that means dead Cybermen, I'll accept stumbling around in the dark for a couple minutes."

"Alright."

Daisy, who had her hands on the power switches for the basement, looked at all three of them in turn before speaking. "On the count of three?"

The Doctor nodded at her.

"One."

"Tw- ah!"

Something heavy slammed against the basement door. Muscles straining with effort, Jack threw his full weight against it to keep it closed. Eyes wide, he looked at Daisy.

"Do it now!"

"THREE!"

Daisy flipped the switch. The power in the hallway flared up to a brightness that nearly blinded them before disappearing entirely, shrouding them in darkness. In the pitch black, Amy's fingers tightened their grip on the Doctor's hand as the four of them heard the heavy splashes of the Cybermen succumbing to the electrified water and collapsing to the ground.

They then heard the door being wrenched open again. Jack uttered a loud grunt before the last Cyberman tumbled down the steps to join the others in the flooded basement.

* * *

><p>The Doctor, Amy, Jack and Daisy were very quiet when they re-entered the TARDIS. As far as they were concerned, the sombre feeling in the air was due to a combination of the fact that they had just had to flee a department store as though their lives depended on it, and the fact that they were probably minutes away from confronting an enemy that they did not yet understand. They weren't completely sure who they were up against, where they were, what they wanted or what tools they had at their disposal. Out of all three of them, Jack was probably the most well-armed, but how effective would his weapons be? Could the Silence even be killed?<p>

They made their way to the glass floor, the Doctor leaning against the console and the others sitting themselves in the jumpseats. All four were deep in thought.

The engines hummed and the console gently beeped, but none of this disturbed any of them.

"Daisy," the Doctor said quietly, "I know you didn't ask for any of this. I'm letting you know that if you want to leave this behind or you're scared and you don't think you're ready for this, I'd be more than happy to take you home. I don't want-"

"I don't want to leave Amy," she said simply. "Yeah, I know, I'm in this weird little transition because I still feel like it's Christmas eve and I'm knackered as hell, but I'm not going to just leave her. What kind of person would I be if I left my best friend to die in _space?_"

"It's not about what kind of friend you are, Daisy. It's about whether or not you're concerned with the fact that you might not be coming back."

None of them had wanted to say it, and now that those horrible words had been said, there was no going back on them. The air seemed to thicken and the mood in the room was so dark that it was hard to focus on anything else. _You might not be coming back._

"I'm still staying."

Amy looked up and over at Daisy, and for the first time since they had returned to the TARDIS, the Doctor could see fear and worry hidden very carefully in her face. "Thank you," she whispered.

Then, with a great clear of her throat, Amy got to her feet. "Before we go anywhere else, can we go back to Leadworth for a few minutes? I want to just… I want to see them before I go."

The Doctor nodded. He didn't need to ask her about her intentions. He already knew.

* * *

><p>The journey to Leadworth hardly took a minute. Upon landing, Amy hopped down the staircase and hurried to the door. She would stay bright for the rest of them even if it killed her. Jack and Daisy watched her, their expressions guarded.<p>

"Is it still Christmas eve here?" she called to the Doctor over her shoulder.

The Doctor looked down at his watch. "Christmas eve morning. Around ten. It should be lightly snowing."

Amy knocked the TARDIS doors open and found herself in the middle of the sleepy street on which her sister's house was. Breathing in heavily and getting the piercing chill in the air in her lungs, Amy forced her legs to keep moving, and she made it to the uneven, snow-covered sandy brown stones that made up Gemma Pond's garden path.

The stood in the doorway of the TARDIS and watched her go. Amy turned back for a split second on her way down her sister's garden path, smiled at him, and continued towards the house. She knocked on the door just as the Doctor looked down at his watch. He did not see the door creak open under her hand, nor did he see her freeze on the stoop before slipping inside with fear in her heart.

Revelling for a moment in the blissful peace of the lonely Leadworth street, the Doctor closed his eyes and inhaled two lungfuls of fresh, pure air. Not a single sound could be heard apart from Jack and Daisy's muffled voices from inside the TARDIS. Not the singing of a bird, not the rustling of leaves, not the sound of a car. There was an absolute dead silence hanging in the air.

His eyes opened. He'd been to Leadworth before, but the Doctor didn't recall it being this quiet before.

"DOCTOR!"

He had already taken off before Amy had finished crying out his name.

He ran full speed across the garden and slammed into the front door, hearing it rattle against his weight before it burst open. Amy was close by, apparently on her way back out the door to meet him. The look of acute terror on her face betrayed her emotions before her words could.

"We need to get out of here," he told her quickly. "Something's wrong, we need to-"

"They've taken her!" Amy cried out. She lurched forwards and grabbed the lapels of his jacket, bringing herself closer to him. "Gemma's gone! They've taken her!"

"Amy-"

"We need to go!"

It was then that the Doctor noticed the state of the room they were standing in. The pictures in the front hallway - the ones directly beside the door that the Doctor remembered looking at so long ago - had all been knocked to the floor as though something had been slammed against the wall. There was a large, dark scorch mark on the floor nearby, looking as though lightning had struck inside the house. Amy's sister had not gone quietly.

From what he could see of the other rooms from where he stood, the rest of the main floor was in a similar state of disarray. Side tables in the front room were knocked over, a drink had been spilt all over the floor, a long back scuff mark stretched across the wall. People that had just popped outside for a bit certainly didn't trash their homes on their way out.

"If they've hurt her, whoever's taken her, I'll kill them, I swear I will."

Such a thing coming from Amelia Pond's lips was surprising to him, but one look at her told him that she meant every word. Amy broke away from the Doctor and ran out of the house, presumably back to the TARDIS. Even from his place in the front hall, he could hear the sound of her boots slamming against the street as she ran back, and then the sound of the slamming door as she entered the ship.

The Doctor stood there for the briefest of moments, trying to calm his mind. There was too much to process – Amy's panicked screams in his face, the fact that Gemma had been taken and he did not know where to, and the rush of thoughts and plans that his brain was already connecting. He had to think.

This was no coincidence. Ordinary people from small villages simply weren't ripped from their homes in the middle of the day and dragged off. There was a reason for this, and he was sure that it was because of him. What else could it be? It was the perfect trap - take one sister and the other will come running. What kind of monster would he be if he refused to rescue Amelia Pond's sister? How could he ever be able to refuse to rescue _anyone_ that needed him?

He wanted to hit himself for being so stupid. He was going to have to get back into that ship and find Gemma, and end multiple lives. Collateral damage was clearly of no concern to whomever had done this, so they would not hesitate to get rid of anyone in their way. He was leading everyone by the hand to their deaths, all because he was a lonely, stupid old man.

Mr. and Mrs. Pond would lose both of their daughters. Ethan Williams would lose his wife, and little Alfie would lose his mother. And how had he never realised how little he knew about Daisy? He'd brought her aboard without question, and it had hardly even fazed him that he knew nothing of the family she was leaving behind. Did she have parents and siblings? Was she married? Did she have children? Who would be the ones to grieve for her when Daisy never returned home again? For god's sake, he didn't even know her full name.

He didn't even know her name.

He left the house, slamming the door behind him.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: You can thank Regina for getting on my case to write this one. The next chapter is already half done, so expect it within the next week and a half or so! Thanks to all of you who kept on messaging me and asking me to write more. You really did fuel a good chunk of this chapter. Reviews keep me going! x**


	26. Chapter 26

"Milky Way Travel Agency. Now! Please, we have to go!"

The Doctor had re-entered the TARDIS to find that Amy was already at the console, shouting at the rotor above her and grabbing desperately at whatever she was able to get her hands on. She pulled at levers, turned dials and slammed her hands over buttons, but could not get the machine to cooperate with her.

Though it did not cooperate, it certainly responded - the TARDIS let out an affronted-sounding whirr of its engines and the whole console room shook violently as it did so. Amy, at this point seething with frustration and not at all still, was knocked onto her back, while The Doctor, Daisy and Jack were able to grip the railings to stay upright.

Daisy bent down to help her. "Amy, what's going on?"

"Her sister's house is empty," the Doctor informed her as he moved to the controls, all light in his eyes gone. "It's been torn apart. I don't know what took her, but she put up one hell of a fight."

Daisy looked at Amy, her face full of worry. Out of anyone else there, Daisy had always prided herself on being one of the best judges of when Amy was close to snapping. She'd seen her angry and she'd seen her subsequently lose her temper, but Daisy Edwards had never seen Amelia Pond like this. In fact, she'd never seen anyone so volatile.

"Amy, we came for her on the morning of the 24th, but the Doctor picked you up that night. Did she call you or anything that day? Did you hear from her at all?" she asked, very careful not to sound overbearing.

Amy, who was now grabbing hold of the console and staring downwards at it, screwed up her face in concentration. Her head was swimming, her limbs ached, her palms were burning from where she had slammed them against the controls...

"I… I don't remember."

The Doctor rushed over to her and moved in close, staring her directly in the eyes. His eyes darted back and forth, examining some part of her that she could not see. "What do you mean, you don't remember?"

"It means _I can't remember_, alright?" she snapped back at him, meeting his intense gaze. "I can't bloody remember, and I am very, _very_ cross with you, so you'd better get this damn thing moving right now."

Her harsh change in tone hardly even seemed to register with him. He was so deeply focused on her face, on the depths of her eyes, that she was quite sure he hadn't heard her at all.

Amy could hardly even keep her thoughts straight. With all of the emotions rushing through her, the new knowledge that she was apparently forgetting things at an even more rapid rate and the fact that her sister had been taken _because of her_, it was a marvel that she could even form speech. She could feel walls closing in on her and she was very aware that she was probably being lured. However, trap or not, there was no universe in which she could consciously leave her sister stranded on her own after being kidnapped - and by what, exactly, she was not sure. She exhaled deeply as she tightened her fingers around two levers, her knuckles whitening.

Jack, who had been silent since Amy and the Doctor had reentered the TARDIS, shot the Doctor a warning look. "What makes you think you'll find her at this travel agency?" he asked gently.

"That stuttering captain bloke we talked to had no idea about any of the things that were going on right in front of his stupid nose, but there's got to be _something_ there, whether he sees it or not. He has to have _some_ kind of contact with _someone_."

The Doctor began to shake his head. "This is the trap we were talking about, Amy. This is the final piece of the plan. They take Gemma, you come running, and I follow. We're running straight to our deaths if we go right now, do you realize that?"

He was still watching her, the look of worry still very much spread across his face. Amy looked over at him, her eyes pleading and, horribly, far more teary than he had been hoping they would be.

"Doctor, please. We don't have anything else. She's my sister, I can't lose her."

The only cohesive thoughts in anyone's mind were of the fact that this plan was either grasping at straws or causing them to walk straight into the trap they had been so carefully avoiding for quite some time. But the Doctor couldn't possibly drag her away from the opportunity to find her sister, could he? What sort of monster would that make him, forcing Amy to stay away?

With his jaw tensed, he ever so slightly nodded.

* * *

><p>It took the Doctor a few minutes to work out the coordinates of where they needed to go – he had to crack into the vortex manipulator he and Amy had used to retrieve the pre-programmed coordinates and work from there.<p>

Upon the TARDIS' landing on the resort, the Doctor laid down a protocol between the four of them. He and Amy were to survey the area, gather whatever information and/or evidence that they could, and return. If neither he nor Amy returned or made any contact to let them know that the resort was safe within five minutes, they were to venture outside, armed with whatever Jack had handy (this was an idea that Jack had to force into the plan). Daisy searched around the console room for something they could use while Jack went into the further rooms of the TARDIS, searching for things he was sure he'd hidden there long ago.

The Doctor and Amy stepped out of the TARDIS, with Amy shutting the door behind them. She wore a look of determination upon her face, and worked very hard to hide the uneasiness that was growing in the pit of her stomach.

"Alright, Pond, so do you want to head to the captain's office first?"

She fidgeted for a brief moment, bit her lip and said, "Actually, I think we should split up for a second."

"What?"

"Look, I won't go far, I promise. We'll clear more ground if we cover two places at the same time, yeah? I'll check out the office, and you can look around where that exhibit thing was."

"Amy."

She rolled her eyes and sighed. "Oh, come on, it's fine. I'm fine. I'll scream if I need ya, alright?"

Before the Doctor could even begin to tell her what a bad idea this was, she had run off around a corner, and he knew that there was no use going after her – she'd try to shake him off anyway. No matter the level of danger, when Amelia Pond was truly determined, there was no stopping her.

Spinning on his heel, the Doctor ran a hand through his mop of dark brown hair and considered his options. Exactly how far _should_ he go, in case Amy needed his help? Fortunately the exhibit of artefacts from his past was mere steps away, and so he chose to start there.

The room was very much the same in make-up – it still had white walls, there were still pristine glass display cases with description cards placed in them – but there was something wrong. The air felt different, somehow. There was something new in it, something that made the whole room feel just a touch off-kilter. His eyes surveyed the room, seeing nothing out of the ordinary until he felt the prickle of the hairs on the back of his neck standing on end and slowly looked out of the corner of his eye.

He found what he was looking for directly behind him. There, emitting a low hum from the wall on which it was spread across, was a gaping, glowing crack.

Now, of course, one can't construct any sort of building or ship without there being some sort of crack in it eventually, he reasoned. The Doctor found, however, that this was no typical crack. Not only did sound seem to pour from it, but the same could be said for a bright whitish glow, the intensity of which could be compared to staring directly at a light bulb. In addition to all of this, he found himself almost magnetically drawn towards it, like a comforting, familiar hand was beckoning him forward.

It took great effort for him to be able to snap himself out of the trance he was in. Once he did, he crouched low on the floor and shifted towards the wall, out of the way of the light. He pressed his cheek to the wall and listened as he fished for his sonic screwdriver in his jacket pocket. A quick scan brought him back confirmation that he was right - this was no simple crack in a wall.

"Ooh, that is bad," he whispered to himself. "That is extremely very not good."

* * *

><p>Amy hopped down the staircase she remembered descending with the Doctor some time before, and stopped before entering the doorway of the captain. Colin James, that was his name. She wondered what sort of a sight would meet her eyes. Would he be sat at his desk as if nothing was amiss? Would he be there waiting for her, armed and ready? She had a wild hope that perhaps she would round the corner and find Gemma there, panicked but safe and sound.<p>

When she did enter the office, none of these things greeted her eyes.

The captain's quarters looked nearly identical to how Amy remembered it when she and the Doctor had paid its jittery inhabitant a visit, but she could not quite shake the feeling that there was something amiss, something she wasn't noticing.

At first, all she had found to be different was a strange burnt smell in the air.

Her eyes scanned the room as she tried to rule things out. The walls were the same, the room was still full of basic furnishings, there was nothing flashy or eye-catching that had been added to the decor, no loose papers strewn haphazardly about. There was nothing immediately visible to her eyes that would cause her to feel so immediately uncomfortable. But the feeling in her heart could not be shaken, no matter how many times her eyes ran over the same spaces.

She tiptoed a little closer to the desk, careful to tread the carpet without letting her boots drag and make a sound. Amy peered up at the bookshelves for a moment, and found that the odd feeling had grown. Swallowing her fear, she looked slightly to her left – just out of the corner of her eye.

It was then that she noticed the pieces of his clothing - and then the pieces of him, all strewn about on the floor just behind his desk.

Horrified, Amy clapped a trembling hand to her mouth as she slowly backed away from the desk, her muscles very nearly frozen in fear. Not able to pay the slightest attention to where she was going, she did not notice the figure standing behind her in the doorway until she had collided with it.

Upon hearing a loud rattling noise from behind her immediately after bumping into something, she whipped around to see just what it was, and let out a terrified scream at the sight that met her eyes.

* * *

><p>Hearing Amy roused him from the trance the crack in the wall had put him in, and the Doctor tore his eyes away and ran towards the sound. He ignored the dull ache in his legs from the constant strain and pushed himself forwards, hurrying to find her.<p>

He ran past the TARDIS, around a corner and came to a grinding halt at the top of the small staircase leading to the captain's quarters. There, at the foot of the stairs, stood a Silent, just as horrible as he remembered them being. It simply stood there for a moment, its long and deeply sunken eye sockets directed straight towards him. This, combined with the low rattle that emitted from the puckered skin where its mouth should have been and the fact that it was over a foot taller than him sent a wave of fear through his entire body.

"Where is she?" he demanded, forcing out an intimidating voice despite his dread. "What have you done with my Amy?"

The creature's answer came in the form of a horrendous rattling cry. It raised both of its hands above its head as blue sparks shot from its fingertips, each spark growing in size as the milliseconds passed until they came in fully-formed bolts.

The lights around the Doctor's head began to quickly flash as the Silent began to stalk towards him. He drew his sonic screwdriver from his pocket and held it at the ready as, step by step, it ascended the creaking staircase.

* * *

><p>The minutes ticked by very quickly. Once five minutes had passed, Jack and Daisy, both of whom had ceased their searching. looked at each other, both wondering what they should do.<p>

Daisy sighed. "I know we agreed on five minutes, but think about who this is involving. Like _either_ of them are going to pay attention to a clock when they've got something going on."

"We'll give it another two."

"Alright."

Another two minutes yielded no attempt at contact, and this led Daisy to a feeling of guilt. What if something had happened while she'd decided to be passive about them being late? What if the Doctor and Amy _couldn't_ get back to them?

She gnawed at the inside of her cheek. "Alright, we've got to go out looking."

Jack nodded, picked up a blaster he had laid on a flat surface on the console, and tossed it to her. "Take this. The only way I can describe using it to someone who's never used a gun before – I'm assuming you haven't – is by saying that it's kind of like using a water gun, so pretend you've got a Super Soaker in your hand."

Daisy took it and smirked. "Yeah, Jack. Of course I've used a gun. I've got a long history of gang activity."

"Well, hey, how do I know that? You could be a femme fatale."

She rolled her eyes as she headed down the console steps. "Ugh. Move it, mate."

Daisy and Jack spent a few minutes searching – they ran and ended up clearing more ground than the Doctor and Amy had. They found nothing in the exhibit hall or surrounding hallways, but found just what Amy did in the captain's quarters. The blown-apart fragments of the man that the Doctor and Amy had told them about laid there, the horrible and grisly proof of the severity of the danger they were in.

Daisy had seen the man's remains and turned to the wall to avoid looking at them. She could hear Jack's voice and his movements over her shoulder as she stood there, trying to regain at least a smidgen of her composure.

"They've been taken. Whatever took them is probably the same thing that killed this guy and took Amy's sister. Collateral damage really isn't an issue to these bastards."

Daisy turned to look at Jack, careful not to let her eyes stray to the carpet behind the desk he stood in front of. "So then why didn't they take the TARDIS? They got the Doctor and Amy, but isn't the TARDIS just as important?" she asked, gesturing behind her to the doorway, beyond which the blue box stood.

Jack shrugged. "If it's the Silence that took them, they don't need the TARDIS. They're perfectly able to travel in space and time without this old thing. They have enough power, and I don't think the TARDIS really factors into their plan. They just want him dead, that's it."

She thought about that for a moment. "Well, can we factor it into ours? Can we figure out where they've taken them, hop in and find them?"

This seemed to Daisy to be a perfectly sensible idea, but Jack raised an eyebrow at her. "When's the last time you flew a time machine?"

She paused. "Fair point."

* * *

><p>"<em>We have received word of their capture!"<em> came the Dalek's cry. _"The Doctor and his companion are being transported presently!"_

He hummed. "Ensure that the monitoring of his companion is increased by all forces. Ensure that the effort against her in strengthened. And speak no word of this to her sister."

"_Our army does not divulge information to the enemy! Daleks do not aid the humans!"_

"No. Nor do we. We will prepare our munitions. I recommend that you do the same, and recommend similar preparations to the others. Once we are all prepared, we will converse with the Doctor."

The Dalek and those that had followed it wheeled out of the hold, leaving him alone. He looked up at the wall of glass behind his throne, the one that was slowly filling with a black fog, and waited.

* * *

><p>Jack and Daisy stood in the area around the TARDIS for a moment. Jack had stopped in his tracks and urged her to do the same. As far as she could see, he was concentrating very hard on something. Daisy watched him with great interest until he snapped out of his trance and started moving again, nearly startling her to the point of jumping out of her skin.<p>

"Yeah, they've probably been teleported. The air feels different around here. Probably some kind of energy residue," he murmured.

"And you can sense that?"

"Well, I've done enough of it myself. You're able to tell after a while. It's kind of like that feeling you get when you go into your bedroom and you just _know_ someone's been in there and moved something."

Daisy threw her hands up. "Well, we've got a time machine, but how're we meant to find them? If they've teleported, couldn't they be anywhere?"

Jack shook his head and made to move in the direction of the TARDIS. "Well, the Doctor is usually really good at sensing energy disruptions in the areas he's in, but he _was_ distracted when he came out here, I guess. If the Doctor didn't sense anything huge when he was here, it's got to be a teleport with a short range, so there's probably a ship waiting close by right now. If we're quick, we can catch them before they make a break for it. Up for a spin?"

The pair returned to the TARDIS in a great hurry. Jack rushed to the console and firmly grabbed the nearest sliding monitor. Daisy followed and waited on the other side of the console, adrenaline rushing through her veins.

"Is this what Amy does all the time? Solving mysteries in space, fighting baddies and running?"

Jack shrugged while still looking at the screen. "Pretty much."

"It's brilliant. Hell, I'd never come back."

Jack grinned, and then let out an exuberant "ha" at something he saw on the screen.

"Did you find something?" she asked, interested.

"The ship is still close by," Jack said. He whistled. "Whew. It's a doozy."

Worried by the fact that someone who had travelled so often in time and space and had seen a lot of things was impressed by the ship he saw before his eyes, Daisy moved to his side to get a good look at it.

"That's it," he said confidently, tapping the monitor screen. Daisy peered over his shoulder and found that he was right - there was a massive spider-like ship off in the distance, and despite the black and white of the screen, she could see tiny pinpricks of light appearing all across its surface.

"What's happening to it?" she asked him, point at the trim of what looked like some kind of loading dock. "Like that, there. It's lighting up like a Christmas tree. Is it taking off?"

"Looks like it. Alright, let's figure this thing out. Have you ever watched the Doctor fly the TARDIS before?" Jack asked Daisy.

She screwed up her face in response. "You realise that I really haven't been here very long, right? Like, this could very well be a weird dream I'm having. I'm still not entirely convinced that I didn't accidentally spill something into my hot chocolate, frankly."

He sighed. "Alright, no leads there. I've travelled in this thing a bunch of times before, but I've never really paid this much attention to how it works. I know he flips some levers and types things into the keyboard, but apart from that…"

Daisy bit at her thumbnail and tapped her foot, looking thoughtfully at the shining glass cylinder above them. She ran through ideas in her head and tried to sift very carefully through memories of being in this very room. She tried to recall the way the Doctor had moved around the console to see if there was some specific way he did things, but the controls seemed to be random, and even if she could remember the sequence in which he ran through his steps, there was no way for her to be sure what exactly she was doing, or whether or not she was doing it correctly.

She did, however, remember one thing she had noticed.

"The ship is alive, isn't it?"

Jack turned to look at her.

"I mean, Amy's mentioned that she sometimes comes downstairs in the mornings and finds the Doctor talking to it, or patting it like it can feel something. Do you think there's some way we could ask it to help us?"

She looked up at the ceiling, peering around at the dangling wires and the circular panelling above the large glass rotor. Daisy cleared her throat and began to speak, still unsure as to just what she was supposed to say, or what she was supposed to be saying it to.

"Hello. Can you hear me? My name is Daisy. I'm a friend of Amy's. She's the one with the red hair. But you probably know that, don't you? Sorry, I don't know how to ask this. I haven't been here very long, but I know how much you mean to the Doctor, and I know how much you care about him. That's why we need you to help us. He's in trouble, and we don't know what to do. Is there any way you can… I don't know, fly yourself? Can you take us to him?"

Daisy stopped speaking for a moment and waited as though expecting to hear the TARDIS respond. She heard nothing but the usual faint hums and hisses that could always be heard.

"Please. He needs you. _We_ need you. Let us know what to do. Please?"

She received no response. Feeling ridiculous, she wondered if perhaps she needed to embellish her out-of-the-ordinary request with a compliment.

"It's… very lovely and... orange in here. Nice and bright. Well done," she offered, giving a thumbs up to the ceiling.

Jack chose that moment to speak to the ship as well. "Hey there, old girl. Remember me? Of course you do, you don't like me, what am I saying? Anyway, we just need you to help us out for a little while, and then I'll get out of your hair. Scout's honour. Anything you can do?"

The console room stayed as still as ever. Not a screen flashed, not a button clicked, not a dial turned. Daisy moaned and dropped into a jumpseat, while Jack sighed and propped his elbows up on the console, looking dejected.

"Alright, I'm not one to go down without a fight," Jack began with a frustrated tone to his voice, "so why don't we just-"

Both were startled out of their reverie by three loud clicks in quick succession. They whipped their heads around to find the source of the sound. It seemed to have come from the direction of a panel of tiny silver switches, some of which appeared to have been flipped.

"I-"

Daisy gasped as a lever flipped itself over. She looked up at Jack, incredulous. He stood there with a stunned look on his face, as though he had never in a thousand year expected to be able to get a time machine to fly itself by begging and complimenting it.

"You're wonderful!" she yelled at the rotor.

* * *

><p>Daisy could not remember the last time she had been so grateful for a vehicle. The TARDIS landed them (albeit slowly and a lot more quietly than either of them were used to) on what they both prayed was the correct ship. Once the ship had landed, they both hollered their thanks up at the ceiling, now assuming that this was the correct way of conversing with the TARDIS.<p>

"I just don't understand how that actually worked," Daisy said in awe, shaking her head in disbelief. "I mean, how did she know where he was? Why did she even listen to us? Amy told me a story about how she needed the TARDIS to help her and she couldn't get it to fly."

Jack went quiet as he pulled both of his blasters out of their holsters and closely inspected them. "I think this ship works less in the way that the Doctor wants it to than he thinks it does."

"What does that mean?"

"I mean, yeah, the old girl _does_ take him where he wants to go, but I feel like sometimes, this thing just takes you where you _need_ to go. Maybe Amy didn't _need_ the TARDIS to get anywhere. Maybe that wasn't what was meant to happen. Frankly, I wouldn't be shocked if it turned out that this thing had developed a mind of its own at this point," he told her, shrugging. "Time to get moving."

"Wait!" Daisy cried out, grabbing his arm. "We can't park this thing in the middle of the… spidery ship thing, can we? Wouldn't they have heard us land? This thing makes a sound like my sink does when something gets jammed in it. And aren't they going to recognise the sound of the Doctor's ship?"

Jack paused and thought for a moment. "I have a hunch, actually. Hang on for a sec."

He fiddled with a nearby joystick and flipped a lever before a rumble ran through the ship, the console room trembling ever so slightly. As neither of them really knew how to fly the ship, any flip of a switch or press of a button on either of their parts sent a wave of fear running through her. Part of her knew it probably wasn't going to do much, but the other part of her worried that they'd end up blowing the place up.

"What's going on?"

"Go outside for a sec. I just checked the monitor, nothing's out there just now. We're in a storage cupboard. Just open the door and step out, but leave the door open. Tell me what you see."

Confused by why exactly Jack was asking her to do this, Daisy backed down the steps. "You could say please, you know."

He smirked at her. "Miss Edwards, would you do me the honour-"

"Ugh, I'm going, I'm going!" she hollered over her shoulder.

Daisy tugged on the left TARDIS door and it swung open. She hopped out and turned on the spot to face the TARDIS again, and the most incredible sight met her eyes - she was, just as Jack had told her, in a storage cupboard, but one that apparently had a single floating door in the middle of it.

"My god."

"Did it work?" Jack yelled out to her. "The TARDIS should be-"

She popped her head back in, grinning. "It's invisible! This is amazing!"

He clapped his hands together and laughed gleefully as she hurried back up the steps to the console to join him. Daisy gave Jack an excited high-five and went to fuss over the monitor to get a better idea of where they were in the ship – she was more interested in where exactly the others were most likely to be kept away. The dial on the side of the screen allowed her to adjust her views – she could see heat maps, sound wave maps, a map of their position within this particular galaxy…

That galaxy looked familiar. The smile on her face quickly disappeared.

"Jack," she whispered.

"Yes?"

She pointed at the screen. "Look at this. We're over Earth right now. We're right above the planet, look."

Disbelieving, Jack rushed over and tore the screen from her hands to get a better look. Sure enough, an alternate view of their position told Jack that the warship was positioned above that familiar planet. With a sick feeling of dread, he slowly realized why.

"They're utilising all of their options. They're going to use the only planet he can call home as a bargaining chip. If for some reason they can't use anyone or anything else to get him to surrender, they're going to take out the planet."

Daisy felt her blood run cold as she understood the gravity of Jack's words. He was moving to turn the monitor dials again, but she grabbed his hand and moved it away upon noticing a minor detail in the image on the screen.

"Look," she whispered.

The grid-like image of their position was slowly expanding by a few pixels. From what Daisy could see, something was extending horizontally from the hull of the ship - something that looked horribly like a large gun.

* * *

><p>Head spinning and aching, Amy's eyes slowly opened to reveal that she had been placed in a cramped, darkened chamber. She felt too groggy and achy to do very much moving or thinking, but instinctively went to flex her muscles to wake herself up - and found herself bound to a chair. From how uncomfortable it felt against her back, she judged that it had been stripped of all cushioning and covering - she could feel pieces of wire against her jacket, wrapping around the back of the chair. She whipped her head around - there was nobody else in there with her.<p>

She strained against her bonds and found herself held down around her wrists, ankles and waist, and as the restraints were made of what seemed to be solid metal, she could not fight against them and hope that they would break open. She relaxed her muscles again and chose instead to take another moment to take in her surroundings. There was not a window with artificial weather in this room - the only light came from the faded blue light of a control panel on the opposite side of the room. There was a single door near the panel, but no light came from underneath it, and there were no windows, locks, handles or hinges to be seen on it. As to how she was going to get that door open or find another way out of the room, Amy had absolutely no idea.

As foggy as her head still felt, it was then that she thought of Gemma. Her sister was likely somewhere onboard this very ship, and probably just as trapped as she was. At least, she thought, her sister was aware of what Amy had gotten herself involved in. She would have some sort of vague idea of what she had been mixed up in when Amy found her again - but Amy's guilt made her realize that her sister would also put two and two together and come to the conclusion that her imprisonment was Amy's fault.

Alone in what she imagined was a high-security prisoner holding cell with no visible means of escape, Amy chose to wait for an opportunity to present itself. In that moment, it was unfortunately all she could do.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** **I'm back! I honestly would have updated this sooner, but I was having another one of those writing periods where I hate everything I do and end up rewriting the chapter about five times before it really goes anywhere. I should really stop promising specific dates...**

**This chapter goes out to Regina, Spark and Laura, all of whom help to fuel my almost nightly Eleven/Amy emotional breakdowns over twitter. Some of them even encourage them (you know who you are).**

**As always, the reviews and feedback from all of you has been _extremely_ appreciated and very encouraging. Thank you! x**


	27. Chapter 27

A sliver of light. Faint blinks of colour. The far-off sound of voices. Her eyes grew heavy and her head lolled forward, her hair hanging limply over her chest. This happened over and over again, making her feel as though she was a record stuck on an endless loop.

Amy spent what had to be hours drifting in and out of consciousness. She knew then that something was horribly wrong – she felt very weak, akin to something having drained her of all the energy she had possessed when she'd been in the TARDIS that morning. Her head was fogged and she felt as though she was running into a brick wall and back again every time she tried to think too hard. Her body felt hot and her muscles ached for some sort of relief. Everything in her wanted to sleep, to just _rest_ for a while, but she had to fight it, she couldn't stay off her guard now…

The door on the wall opposite slid open and light streamed in, and Amy strained against her bonds to see who was entering. The hairs on the back of her neck stood on end when two sleek bronze Daleks wheeled into her holding cell, their eyestalks pointed right at her.

"_You are a companion of the Doctor!"_ one screeched.

She glared at them. "So what if I am?"

"_We are aware that your family resides in the town of Leadworth._"

The awful truth began to dawn on her, trickling through her entire body and leaving her cold. "You let her go. You let my sister go, or so help me, I'll come over there and-"

"_You shall do nothing! There are no means of escape for you. You and the rest of the companions of the Doctor shall remain here until the time has come."_

She narrowed her eyes at the Dalek speaking to her. "Time? What time?"

"_You are here for a great purpose! You will set the events in motion!"_

"You're absolutely mental. What if I told you I don't want to help you?"

A shadow fell across the doorway as three tall figures stood there, ensconced in shadow. The figures on the left and right were of the same build and seemed to have the same headgear – the figure in the middle seemed smaller and was slumped over somewhat. As they entered the room and Amy got a better look at them, her breath caught and she felt bile rise in her throat. Two sleek Cybermen were frogmarching – or dragging, rather – the weakened form of Jack Harkness into her cell. They tossed him down on the floor in front of her chair.

From what she could see, he wasn't moving at all. She wasn't sure if she was simply panicked and not paying close enough attention, or if his heart had stopped before he had been brought to her.

"_You have the same weakness as the Doctor. Emotions were the end of the Time Lords, and they will be the end of the human race. Fortunately, Daleks are not susceptible-"_

Amy let out a loud sigh and made her voice sound angry to hide her panic. "Oh, would you shut _up_? I'm not helping you! Piss off and let me go!"

"_You will be an aid to our initiative. Your direct consent is not necessary. You and the Doctor shall be collected when the time arrives!"_ the second Dalek screamed.

With that, the two Daleks and the two Cybermen turned and left her holding cell. Amy cried out after them, but the door slammed shut behind them and did not leave a single sliver of light where the door had been.

Fear filling her heart at the thought of what she was going to see when she looked down, Amy finally willed her eyes to fall on Jack again. He hadn't moved an inch from where he'd been thrown, but with less light falling on him it was hard to even see his face. All she could make out was that his eyes were closed, his lips slightly parted, and there was no rise and fall to his chest.

Amy looked pointedly away from the body at the foot of her chair, feeling tears prick at the corner of her eyes. She was so sure that if worse came to worst, Jack would be the last one standing, and he wouldn't go down without one hell of a fight - and now here he was, dead on the floor in front of her. God, what kind of a chance did they have if the only one armed and full of experience and a willingness to fight was the first one down?

She sat there, staring at the space where the door had been, silently begging it to open, praying that someone would come through and help them...

To Amy's great shock, Jack very suddenly sat bolt upright and gave a huge, shuddering gasp, his chest heaving with a great amount of effort. Caught completely off-guard, she screamed and strained away from him in her chair, and Jack grinned widely before emitting a huge laugh. Amy, however, her eyes bulging and her heart pounding, found no humour in this.

"What the _HELL_-"

"What? Never seen a man get electrocuted before?"

She stared at him, her mouth gaping open and her eyes as wide as saucers. Jack chuckled again at the stunned expression she wore, her face having gone even paler than his had been with pure shock.

"You're dead!" she cried out.

"I'm very alive."

"_Dead!_" she yelled, her voice strained.

"Aw, Amelia, don't spoil my fun," Jack said with a playful grin. "Anyway, we've got things to do. I hope you haven't gotten too comfortable in that chair."

"Are you a zombie? Is this The Walking Dead?"

He stood up cautiously, determining the reliability of his own limbs, and then made his way to the control panel by the door. After Jack had pressed several of the glowing blue buttons, Amy heard a hiss in the locking mechanisms of her bonds, and gleefully watched as all five of them clicked open and freed her.

"Now, could a zombie do that?"

Amy looked him up and down, her eyes examining him and finding no evidence to prove that he had been lying dead not a minute earlier. So the man could resurrect himself from the dead, and hadn't thought this an important enough personal detail to divulge to her? What the hell was with these people and not feeling the need to explain anything to her?

"To answer the questions you're probably asking in your head," Jack called over his shoulder as he worked, "yes, Daisy is here, yes, the TARDIS is here, no, I haven't seen the Doctor, and yes, this place is swarming with Daleks and Cybermen. I killed a Dalek and two Cybermen before they put the place on high alert, and once they did, they really came out of the woodwork. I haven't seen a Silent yet, but I'm guessing they're somewhere around here. And yes, I'm in the middle of trying to get you free."

Jack realized through her complete silence that there was an explanation he had yet to give. He sighed and said quietly, "It happened a long time ago, around when I first met the Doctor. There was an accident, and I… ended up like this. I was killed by the Daleks and brought back and it's going to keep happening forever. I can't die. Ever."

Amy went quiet again for a moment. "Oh."

She was suddenly very sorry she'd asked, realizing after hearing Jack's answer that this was something very personal. She couldn't imagine it - dying and coming back over and over, for the rest of time. Everyone else you know dying while you continue living. It made sense, now, why she sensed a real closeness between him and the Doctor, apart from the fact that were old friends - Jack understood him in a way she never could. They both knew what it was to live far, far longer than you were supposed to.

He had left Amy to think it over while working the controls. After another minute or so, her bonds sprung open and Amy was freed. She stood up on shaky and sore legs, almost falling back into her chair as she tried to fight off her dizziness.

As she stood there, rubbing at her wrists, the hidden door in the wall opened again and bright yellow-ish light filled the room once more. From what Amy could hear, the hall was empty. She was overjoyed at this convenience - she was starting to gain her strength and proper balance back, but she wasn't sure she could take on a Cyberman in her state.

Jack went to stand next to Amy near the doorway and followed her gaze to the hall.

"Yeah, that wasn't me. Could've been Daisy. She's going up and down the halls trying to take down as many stragglers as she can."

"Mm. Which buttons did you use to get me out of the chair?" Amy very suddenly asked Jack. An idea had been forming in her head during her foggy moments of consciousness but had just clicked in that moment.

Jack thought about it and then stepped back over to peer at the control panel for a brief moment. "Uh, the one that's shaped like a triangle, the whitish one, and the one with the thing that looks like a seven on it. Why?"

"I've got a plan. Where were you going to run off to after this?"

"Depends. What'd you have in mind?"

"_Jack._"

"Oh, fine. I was going to help Daisy take out stragglers. They've probably taken the security off of high alert after killing me, so I think it'll be relatively easy to catch a few. The Silence might be behind this, but this is a Dalek ship with Cybermen onboard, and god knows how many other creatures are on their way. What are you gonna do, Miss Pond?"

She examined her fingernails nonchalantly as she spoke. "Visit the Doctor, find Gem, whatever happens in the meantime."

"'Visit' him?"

"Yep," she said, popping the 'p'. "He's got something I need before I can let him out. But I _will_ let him out. Scout's honour. Actually, y'know what, can _you_ be the one to let him out? He might get a little cross with me after I find him. Go shoot a few Daleks and then let him out too, alright? Just kill some time for a few minutes, then go to his room. I'll leave his door open for ya."

Jack stared at her. "Yeah, I guess-"

Then suddenly realizing that she might encounter the same fate as Jack on her way, Amy quickly asked, "Do you have any spare guns or anything?"

Looking a little rushed and confused, Jack reached inside his coat and pulled out a sleek silver blaster and handed it to her. She grabbed it eagerly and turned it over in her hands, examining it. It was small enough that she could hide it under her clothing if she needed to, but large enough that it looked like it could do some damage. She turned on her heel and went tearing through the doorway before he could question her further, blaster in hand.

* * *

><p>Daisy's head was full to the brim of everything Jack had tried to teach her about the ship before she'd made her move. She was trying desperately to recall the layouts of hallways, where certain rooms were and what was on certain floors, but as she'd never been in anything remotely like this ship before, Daisy was definitely struggling. On more than one occasion she'd had to duck into an alcove and press herself against the wall to avoid being seen, but with the blaster she'd extracted from the abundance of weapons Jack had been strategically hiding around the TARDIS over the years, she wasn't too worried.<p>

What did worry her, though, were the Daleks and the Cybermen she had seen patrolling the halls. She wasn't sure yet how effective the gun would be on them (she had yet to try, and quite frankly, she wasn't eager to get a head start), and didn't know how easily she'd be able to escape them and alert the others.

The other creatures weren't as worrying - well, they were in a different way. Daisy had seen few things quite as horrible as some of the specimens that came strolling down the hallway - there was one species that looked like bald humans with long stringy things pouring from their mouths, a species with numerous suckers all over their faces and a few that stayed armoured with their helmets shut tightly that she could only imagine were just as ghastly as the rest.

She wondered if she'd seen any of those Silence. She supposed she must have done - but why couldn't she be certain? Daisy felt oddly disoriented just thinking about them - which she later recalled was a side-effect of a sighting of one - but wasn't sure whether or not that was plain old worry or not.

Daisy rounded a corner with her gun close to her chest, sure that she was getting close to where the Doctor, Amy and Gemma were being held. As long as she was remembering correctly, this was the secondary cargo hold, the rooms of which seemed a little smaller than normal. Perfect for holding prisoners.

The sooner everyone could get out of there and get back home unscathed, the better.

* * *

><p>The Doctor was in a room identical to Amy's, only he was strapped to something that was somehow <em>less<em> comfortable than the strange chairs in nearly every other holding cell. While Amy had been held down onto a chair, he was fighting to tear himself away from a straight upright panel of sleek metal that was tiled slightly backwards. Even if he was strong enough to tear a bond or two straight off of the panel, he wouldn't have been able to gather the momentum to fall forwards and drag himself out. They'd kindly left his sonic screwdriver in his inner jacket pocket, but the Doctor was rather cross about the fact that he couldn't reach it.

He too felt far more groggy when he'd woken up than he had been expecting too. Electrocution was briefly mind-addling for him, he knew that from firsthand experience, but this was more on the scale of a heavy sedation. Had someone on this ship really stooped so low?

A loud whooshing sound and the faint dragging of the doors came from directly in front of them and he was able to see the hallway outside of his cell for the first time. Light came pouring in around the silhouette of Amy Pond, standing in a doorway that had suddenly appeared across from him. He had to strain his eyes to see that it was her, and when he did, he laughed with pure glee at the sight of her - he couldn't remember the last time he'd been so glad to see anyone at all.

"Amelia!" he wailed. "Oh, Pond, I'm so happy you're here. Come on, get me free, we need to get everything sorted out, and _fast,_ I think we're running out of time."

She stepped into his cell and tossed her tumbling red waves off of her shoulders. "Those controls outside are so stupid. No rhyme or reason to any of them."

The Doctor laughed. "Sounds like Dalek handiwork. No bloody logic goes into their designs anymore. Anyway, come on, work your magic on that control panel. I can't reach my sonic, or I'd be out of here by now."

Already at the controls, Amy was looking closely at the buttons. "Where is it?" she asked from over her shoulder.

"Jacket," he replied, tilting his head down to see if he could even see it from his angle. "They're taunting me, I know it. Lock me down here like I'm about to be dissected and put the key on my person. It's inconsiderate, that's what it is. I'll have a word with them. Any luck over there?"

"Not yet. These buttons are weird. Lot more alien-y than mine were," she called back absent-mindedly.

When the Doctor - who had been trying to peer down into his jacket - looked up again, he let out a little yell at the sight of Amelia not fifteen inches away from his face, looking directly at him. He couldn't quite decipher the expression she wore - he didn't think it was one he'd seen on her before. Very interesting.

For a moment, her eyes travelled across the panel the Doctor was held against. "Is it weird, being on this… bed thing? You're all splayed out, it's gotta be."

He shrugged. "I've been in worse places. But I won't even go there. You don't have that kind of time. Were you able to find a way to get these things off?"

Amy looked at him again, still standing stoically with that odd look in her eyes that the Doctor couldn't place. He felt mildly unsettled at how deeply intense it was - when had he ever looked at her in such a way before? What was she looking at him like that for?

"I'm glad you're okay," she told him quietly, a tiny smile on her lips

The Doctor smiled back. "I'm happy you're in tip-top shape as well, Pond. Now, if-"

"The room they put me in," Amy cut in, "was a lot like this one, only I had a chair. God, I felt like I was in there for hours, just sitting there, alone in the dark. It really made me think, you know? About home. About what I want."

He raised an eyebrow. "Some light? Better furnishings? I'd have to agree."

She blinked at him. "I'm being serious."

"So am I," he told her. "I'm getting tired of the rubbish cells I get thrown in. Honestly, even a flickery little bulb'd do. Nothing fancy. Just a bulb. You get a chair and I get _this?_ Terrible."

Amy exhaled loudly. "Are you finished?"

"Right. Yes, sorry," he muttered after clearing his throat.

"So, as I was saying, I spent a lot of time in there just sort of _thinking_. About where I am. About what I want. What I want to do."

The Doctor nodded eagerly and looked at Amy intently, waiting for her to give him some more information. She narrowed her eyes slightly and tilted her head towards him.

"Do you know what I mean?" Amy asked slowly, enunciating each word very carefully.

He nodded again. "Oh, yeah. 'Course. I think about that sort of stuff all the time."

He wasn't sure if he was just imagining it or not, but the Doctor could have sworn he saw Amy's eyes go a little darker, even in the limited light he had.

Any suspicions he had about what she was thinking were dashed away when Amy took a step closer to him and grabbed the lapels of his jacket in her hands. Her eyes most certainly _were_ darker. Heavens. _That's_ what she was on about.

He swallowed, his throat suddenly feeling very tight. "Amelia, what are you-"

"Shut your stupid face," she snapped at him.

Cupping her hands on either cheek, Amy brought the Doctor's face close and kissed him hard. Her lips, though soft and sweet, were desperate and fierce, and both were reminded of their near-death experience with the Daleks. Though, the Doctor had to admit, being kissed in that moment by Amy wasn't nearly as enjoyable as it could have been, not when he was strapped to something horribly resembling an operating table.

"Just shut up," she repeated in a whisper as she briefly broke away. "Haven't you worked it out yet?"

Before the Doctor could interject and voice his complete confusion, her mouth was pressed against his again, one hand crooked around the back of his neck with fingers snaking into his hair. Her other hand slid dangerously down the front of his shirt, her nails clicking against his buttons.

Confusion and worry clouded his brain along with the addling effects of Amy's very red lips on his, and the Doctor could barely even mutter her name in warning as her hand rested on his ribcage. Before he could find the strength to force words out of his mouth, she had broken away, but kept her lips a mere inch away from his.

"As much as I'd love to stay and... _continue,_" Amy whispered in a low voice, causing the Doctor's eyes to flash with alarm, "I've got something I need to do. I'm finding my sister and I'm not waiting for your half-concocted plan to get me there. I want her out of there _now_."

Before he could realise what was going on, Amy was backing slowly away from him, looking apologetic. The Doctor was about to ask what exactly it was she intended to do to find her sister - or even what tools she had to help her - but then noticed what she held in her hand.

"Amy!" he cried out in shock. "You-"

"Pretty good, eh? Distraction technique," Amy told him, flipping his sonic screwdriver into the air and catching it. "Remember that time you kissed me to catch me off guard? Not such a great feeling, is it?"

"That was _not_ a kiss, that was…" he trailed off, looking flummoxed.

He received a mischievous grin in return. "That good, am I?"

The Doctor glared at her and pulled with all of his strength against his bonds, forgetting that he'd already tried doing that and gained nothing but sore wrists and ankles. He was having just as much luck straining against the solid metal bonds as Amy had had - none whatsoever.

"Amelia, let me go!"

"I've got to go, Doctor. Sorry. I hate to do this, I really do, but I want my sister in the TARDIS in the next few minutes. I don't want her near _them_ for one more second. I don't know what they're doing to her but it stops now."

"_Amelia!_"

"Look, this'll give you time to actually come up with a plan, alright? I'll come back for you!"

Amy had dashed out of the doorway and out of sight before he could yell out her name again. She left the Doctor behind to wonder how he could get himself out, and exactly how much of what had just happened to him was part of his vaguely drugged stupor.

He couldn't wrap his head around either.


End file.
